The Benefits of Abandonment
by Reynutocx
Summary: When Kakashi leaves on a mission, Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke must learn to live with each other until he gets back. Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own creativity.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Hey! This is my first attempt at a multi-chapter story. I hope it's ok. I will update as much as possible, but I'm notorious for starting things and never finishing them. Maybe this can be my first complete story. =^_^=**

" _This is ridiculous."_ Kakashi thought as he made his way to the training grounds. He was rather annoyed. It wasn't the fact that he was two hours late (to him that was practically on time). No, he was upset that he had a mission. In all fairness he shouldn't have, since he was training three new students.

Apparently Konoha was short staffed at the current time. The Hokage had called Kakashi into his office early that morning. Well, Kakashi's idea of early. There he was informed that they needed him to take out some A-ranked ninja that was currently lurking around the outskirts of Konoha.

Kakashi ordinarily wouldn't mind going out on a mission, but since he was a teacher now it wasn't really his job anymore. At least not until his students made chunin.

" _I guess I can make this work."_ Kakashi thought as he approached his three genin. _"I'll make them do something easy while I'm gone. Basic sparring or something."_

His eyes settled on the orange blur that was Naruto. He was standing in the middle of a pile of kunai and throwing stars and seemed to be trying to balance a Katana on his open palm. Kakashi watched as he staggered back and forth in an attempt to keep the blade pointing skyward.

" _How the hell did he even get a Katana?"_ Kakashi wondered as he swiftly grabbed the weapon away from the boy. He then turned to Sakura and Sasuke who had been watching with varying levels of interest.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kakashi asked Naruto.

"Sasuke said I couldn't do it, but I could," came the reply. Naruto took advantage of Kakashi's face palm to turn to Sasuke. "See Loser! I'm just strong as you!"

"Hn."

Kakashi sighed. He had had team 7 for less than a month, but already he could see the major problem. Naruto and Sasuke's clashing egos were getting in the way of the completing missions and destroying any potential friendship between the two. Kakashi wished that there was some way of making them see they were both on the same team.

"Cut it out you two," Kakashi said. There was no way he was entrusting them with weapons now. It would look awful on his record if it said that two of his students somehow managed to kill each other while he was gone. _"What can I do now?"_ he thought. _"They still need to train."_

"Kakashi-sensei?" came Sakura's quiet voice. "What are we doing today?"

"I'm leaving on a mission today," Kakashi held up a hand at Naruto's protests. "I'll be gone for a few days. While I _am_ gone, I want you to do…" Kakashi racked his brain. "teambuilding activities."

He got three different responses simultaneously.

"AWSOME!" from Naruto.

"What activities will we be doing?" from Sakura.

Sasuke said nothing, but he did let out a small groan.

"Yeah, I'm glad you're all so excited." Kakashi said briskly. "I have to leave in a few hours, so I'd better tell you what I expect of you. You three need to stay together until I come back. That means eating together, living with each other, going places together. No one leaves before I get back," he glanced at Sasuke. "Other than that, entertain yourselves however you see fit."

Fortunately for Kakashi, Naruto and Sakura seemed to both really like the idea. Naruto started excited talking about all the fun things team 7 could do on their "extended sleepover", and Sakura muttered something about spending time with "Sasuke-kun."

Kakashi smiled.

"Why do you hate me?" Sasuke questioned.

"Oh, come on!" It'll be fun!" Kakashi said heartily. " _This actually could be exactly what the team needs."_ He added in his head.

"Alright. Quit talking and pick someplace to stay so we can get started," Kakashi said.

Sakura frowned. "I don't think my mom and dad want me bringing two boys over to our house, especially if they're ninjas." She looked hopefully at Sasuke.

"Don't look at me," Sasuke said. "There's no way either of you are coming over to the Uchiha complex."

"That's ok! You can both come over to my place!" Naruto exclaimed happily at the prospect of having two people over at the same time.

"That settles it," Kakashi said. "Now, let's get started. I won't be around for a while, so I expect you to work extra hard today. Start with 10 laps around the grounds. Go."

Kakashi watched his three students take off around the grounds. _"This might just work,"_ he thought happily. He pulled out Icha Paradise and started reading.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: A huge thank you to all my readers for putting up with all my spelling and grammar mistakes. You guys are great.**

 **I will be switching POV between chapters. I will also be adding endings like "-chan", "-kun", and "-sensei" depending on who's narrating. I hope it won't get confusing. =^_^=**

Sasuke grabbed his bag and, angrily, began packing it. _"This is awful,"_ he thought. _"Who in their right mind would want to spend time with an A.D.D. positive moron and a useless fangirl?"_

" _No one,"_ Sasuke decided _._ That, of course, didn't change the fact that he had to do it anyway. He didn't even know for how long. Kakashi had said "until I get back." This casual measurement made Sasuke unhappy. He always like to know how long he was going to be doing something. The way Kakashi had "assigned" the "mission" it meant that if the jonin died out on his mission Sasuke would have to live with Naruto and Sakura forever. He knew that wasn't what Kakashi meant, but he preferred to think of it that way anyway. It made his suffering seem much worse.

His bag now full of toothpaste, clothes, soap, and the like, Sasuke turned to go.

"I'll be back soon," he said to the empty room. It wasn't like he expected it to answer him he told himself; it was more of a habit.

Sasuke softly closed the door. Standing in the long hallway, he was made aware of just how big the house was. Empty. Lonely. Cold. The Uchiha complex was always cold. It had been so ever since _that night_.

" _What's wrong with me? Pull it together, kid."_ Sasuke thought bitterly. No way was he thinking about that. Not today at any rate. Today he had to go to Naruto's stupid "extended sleepover" and endure his two teammates. Then he could go back to training.

He began the walk to Naruto's apartment. On the way there, he was supposed to pick up Sakura, because she lived in the middle of the two of them.

Sasuke reached her house in a matter of minutes. It looked empty. _"Great,"_ he thought. _"Now no one's home. Now what am I supposed to do?"_ He knew he should knock on the door just in case, but he really didn't wasn't to. He dislike talking to Sakura, but her parents were even worse even though he'd only met them once. Sakura had somehow convinced them that he was her boyfriend. Sasuke had not been expecting the following talk he had received about not hurting the Haruno's precious baby girl. He had stood their speech for about two minutes before he said that he and Sakura were definitely not going out and abruptly left. Things had been awkward between them ever since.

Fortunately for Sasuke, he didn't have to knock. The door opened and Sakura's pink head appeared.

"Hey Sasuke-kun!" she waved at him and Sauke noted how odd it was to see her not wearing her training clothes. "Come in. You look like a stalker standing out there alone like that. I've still got to get my bag. It's upstairs."

"I'm okay out here."

Sakura frowned. "Don't be silly Sasuke-kun. You'll get cold out there."

Sasuke ignored the fact that it wasn't cold at all and realized that Sakura wasn't leaving until he came inside.

"Whatever, fine." He decided. This detour was taking too long anyway.

The Haruno house was much smaller and neater than the Uchiha complex. Sasuke looked around nervously for Sakura's parents. They didn't seem to be anywhere.

"Okay, go get your bag now," Sasuke said. He didn't really want to go to Naruto's stupid sleepover, but the last time he had been alone with Sakura had been in the brief time before he's been mistaken for boyfriend and he wasn't eager to relive the experience.

"You don't want to come up with me?"

"No."

"Ok," Sakura sounded disappointed. "But you know I'm always here if you want to talk to someone."

" _What did she even mean by that?"_ Sasuke thought as he watched Sakura disappear up the stairs. He decided he didn't really care.

Sakura came back down with her bag slung over her shoulder.

"Ok, I'm ready. Let's go!"

Sakura turned off the light and the two of them left the house.

As they started down the street, Sasuke had started feeling uncomfortable. He knew that Sakura wanted to talk to him.

"So, my parents think I'm on a training mission." Sakura said after a while.

"Hn."

"I don't like lying to them, but I thought they might freak out if they knew that Kakashi wasn't going to be there."

"Hn."

"I'm glad you see it my way Sasuke-kun. I knew that you would," Sakura smiled.

" _I've said nothing to her and she still thinks I'm a part of this conversation."_ Sasuke thought. _"It's actually pretty amazing."_

Inspired, Sasuke spent the remainder of the walk to Naruto's house trying to see just how much he could get Sakura to talk only responding with "hn". It kept him entertained and it seemed to make Sakura happy.

Before he knew it they had arrived at Naruto's apartment.

Sasuke groaned again. He definitely was not going to be enjoying the next few days.

"Do you want me to knock?" Sakura asked. Apparently she didn't seem upset about wasting her weekend at this stupid teambuilding mission.

Sasuke frowned slightly. He was pretty sure that letting Sakura knock would make him look like a coward. No way was he going to make himself look worse than her.

He shook his head, and after a moment of hesitation raised his hand and knocked on the door.

 **AN: I don't really ship Sakura and Sasuke all that much (I mean they're cute, but not particularly realistic in my opinion), but I have no illusions of how Sakura was back then. Shippuden hasn't happened yet. Heck, the wave mission hasn't happened yet. Hmm, maybe I should have mentioned that earlier... sorry about that guys.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: My life has become school. Noooooo, but I only have about a week left. Fingers crossed for finals. =^_^=**

Knock knock knock

" _Yes! They're here!"_ Naruto thought as he scrambled up from where he had been sitting. He had been unable to sit down for more than 10 minutes and had been bouncing around his apartment all day trying to get it ready for the extended sleepover. He'd even cleaned his room. Ok, maybe not, but he had cleaned it some. Ok, fine. Maybe he had just picked up most of his dirty laundry and threw in in the hamper, but it still counted.

He wrenched open to door to find his team members. Sakura-chan looked fairly excited to be there, while Sasuke just had a resigned look on his face.

"Hey guys! So I've got everything all planed out. We are going to have so much fun…" Naruto babbled happily. This was the first time he'd ever had kids his own age come over to his house. He continued on about all the stuff he thought they should do.

"You're in the way, Stupid."

Naruto stopped talking. He realized that he had been standing in the middle of the door way while Sakura-chan and Sasuke stayed out in the hall.

"Oh, right," Naruto moved aside. "Come on in."

"Ok this is my living room," he said once they were all inside. "My kitchen is over there," he pointed. "And down the hall are the bathroom and my bedroom. Put your stuff in my room and then we can get started."

Once Sakura-chan and Sasuke were gone, Naruto pulled a crumpled piece of paper out of his pocket. On it was a hand written list of all the "activates" that Naruto was hoping to do by the time Kakashi-sensei got back.

He admitted that he had really gotten into this mission, if it could even be called that. Naruto loved training, but at the same time, he really wanted friends. He hadn't exactly gotten off on the right foot with either Sakura-chan or Sasuke. He hoped that by spending more time with them they could become the kind of friends that Naruto had read about in books. The kind of friends that would always be there for you and that you could tell anything. That way when Naruto became the Hokage he would be able to share his victory with someone.

He was interrupted from his thoughts by the sound of footsteps.

"Naruto, your room's a mess." said Sakura-chan.

"It's not that bad!" Naruto said defensively. He _had_ cleaned it after all and it looked a million times better than it had. _"She should have seen it before,"_ he thought.

"Yes, it is." Sakura-chan balled her fists.

"Fine, I'll clean it later," Naruto said. " _Damn it! This is not starting off well,"_ he thought.

Sakura-chan's angry expression instantly changed. "Ok!" she said happily. "Let's get started."

Naruto headed into his kitchen. "Follow me everyone," he called out.

Once the genin had crowded into the kitchen Naruto opened his silverware draw and pulled out three spoons.

He held them out to Sakura-chan and Sasuke. "Tada!"

They stared blankly at him.

"Here, you get a spoon." Naruto gave the spoon to Sakura-chan.

She took it hesitantly. "Um, thanks?"

Naruto turned to Sasuke and held out the other spoon.

"And you get a spoon."

"I don't want your crappy spoon."

"Just take it," Naruto pouted.

Sasuke sighed and accepted the spoon.

"And I get a spoon." Naruto held out the remaining spoon so they could see it. "Now, everyone, hide your spoon somewhere in the house, but not in the bathroom." He added. The last time he had played this game with his shadow clones, one of them thought it would be funny to drop the spoon in the toilet.

"Do we have to?" asked Sasuke.

"Yes, it's part of the game. I'll explain everything when you get back."

Sasuke muttered something about this being the single dumbest thing he'd ever done, but he left in the direction of the living room. Sakura-chan sighed and followed him.

" _Great,"_ Naruto thought. He walked over to the spoon draw and placed the spoon back in with the others. _"They'll never find it in here!"_ He giggled and waited for Sakura-chan and Sasuke to come back.

In a few minutes the two of them walked back in.

Naruto jumped up and spread his arms wide "Welcome lucky players to Epic Spoons! My name is Uzumaki Naruto and I'll be your host!"

Sakura-chan smiled and Sasuke tried to leave, but was pulled back by Naruto.

"Where do you think you're going? The game just started," Naruto enthused. He was determined to keep up his game show persona for as long as possible. It was just more fun that way.

"What's your name, young lady?" Naruto asked.

"My name is Haruno Sakura. I'm thrilled to be here and ready to win!" Sakura-chan answered.

"All right!" Naruto smiled. Sakura-chan had caught on fast.

Naruto turned to Sasuke who was trying to leave again. "And who are you, young man?" he asked.

"You know who I am, Naruto," he answered exasperatedly.

"That's a strange name," Naruto mused. "Ok, then You-know-who-I-am-Naruto."

Sasuke sighed. "Fine, my name is Uchiha Sasuke. Happy?"

Naruto ignored the last comment. "Alright then, Sasuke, Sakura. Welcome to Epic Spoons! The rules are simple: draw cards until you get four of the same then quick find a spoon before your opponents. No finding your own spoon. When you find a spoon, run back to the kitchen as fast as you can. The last person to make it back will be eliminated!"

Naruto pulled a deck of cards out from his pocket and placed it on the table. Everyone took a seat around it.

"Who goes first?" Sakura-chan asked excitedly.

"You can since you asked. We'll go in to clockwise circle from there." Naruto said and with that the game began.

" _This is awesome!"_ Naruto thought as he watched his friends draw cards. He'd made up Epic Spoons himself and it was favorite game. He enjoyed playing it with his shadow clones, but it wasn't the same as playing with actual people.

Sakura-chan was really enjoying herself. She had all her cards sorted out in numerical order in front of her. Even Sasuke seemed to be getting into it. His increasing large hand of cards was held protectively to his chest almost like he thought someone would take it from him. Naruto was having a good time too despite all of his cards kept falling out of his hands. He thought that he must have shuffled the deck really well, because it was almost gone and no one had four of the same card yet.

"Ha! See you!" Sakura exclaimed as she drew a card. She stood up from her chair and sprinted into the living room in search of a spoon.

"It's just me and you now, Sasuke!" Naruto said as he drew another card. It was another 6. Now he had three of them.

"Bring it on, Loser," Sasuke retorted and drew another card.

" _Come on,"_ Naruto thought as he drew another card. It was the final 8.

"Yes!" Naruto shouted and threw his complete set of cards down on the table.

He took off through the house looking for a spoon. He couldn't find one in any of the normal places where his shadow clones normally hid them. There was nothing behind the couch or in the dresser drawers. He passed Sakura-chan who was still looking for her spoon.

"Tell me where you hid yours Sakura-chan," Naruto begged.

She smiled wryly. "Like I'd tell you!" She laughed and continued looking under the side table.

Naruto sprinted into his bed room. His eyes swiveled around the room. Yes! There it was! The corner of one his blankets was out of place. Naruto lifted up the blanket, and there it was right between the blanket and sheet.

Naruto picked up the spoon and ran back into the kitchen. It was empty which meant that he had won the round. It also meant that Sasuke must have found four of the same and was still looking for a spoon.

In a few minutes Sasuke came running into the kitchen with a spoon.

"Is Sakura back yet?" he asked breathlessly.

"Nope!" Naruto said. "I guess that means she loses."

Sasuke took a seat next to Naruto.

"So where did you find your spoon?" Naruto asked.

"In the plant in your hall," He answered.

"Sakura-chan must have hidden that one," Naruto said. "I found the one in my bed."

"That means you got mine," Sasuke said. "Where did you hide yours?"

Naruto smiled. "In the spoon drawer." It really was ingenious plan.

"You moron," Sasuke said. "She's never going to find it there."

Naruto giggled "That's the point."

Sasuke said nothing, but he did look displeased.

Sakura came back looking upset. "I've looked everywhere. I can't find it."

"The idiot hid it with the other spoons," Sasuke replied.

"That cheating!" Sakura-chan exclaimed. She walked over to the spoon drawer and opened it. "That has to be cheating."

Naruto shrugged. He hadn't made a rule up about that.

"I think that you should be eliminated," said Sakura-chan.

"What? No way!"

"Alright. Since Naruto's a moron he gets eliminated," Sasuke cut through Naruto's protests.

"Whatever. I'll win the next game." Naruto said huffily. He sat down on his couch and waited while his friends set up the next round.

" _I would have won,"_ Naruto thought as he watched Sakura-chan and Sasuke hunt for spoons. _"I'll definitely beat them both next time."_

 **AN: Aaaaannd we're finally done. Also, I have no idea of the game Epic Spoons actually exists in real life, but I'm pretty damn sure that no one in the Konoha universe knows about it, so I'm crediting it to Naruto.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Hey guys. I know it's been a while, but I'm in the middle of taking finals. I just need to hold out a little longer. =^_^=**

Sakura found that if she ignored the fact that she was acting like a total dork, she was actually having fun. Naruto had endless energy and kept the three of them constantly moving form activity to activity, but the real reason Sakura was enjoying herself so much was Sasuke-kun.

Sakura had liked him since, well since forever. Sasuke-kun had always been so smart, and cool, and capable, not to mention absolutely hot. Sakura had never been able to work up the nerve to talk to him. He had almost seemed too perfect, then became very unapproachable after the Uchiha massacre. Sakura was sacred. She was afraid that if she told Sasuke-kun everything and put her heart out on the line, he would crush it. _"No,"_ she had thought. _"I can't tell him. I need to make him fall for me instead. That way he'll never hurt me."_

The plan hadn't really worked. Sakura had tried to do everything to get Sasuke-kun to notice her, but in the end she had just come off as annoying. She'd been thrilled that they wound up in the same three man cell. _"Finally I can talk to him!"_ she had thought. But after all the time that passed, Sasuke-kun had become cold and wasn't interested having positive relationships with anyone. Sakura was still convinced that, in time, she could save him which was why she was so thrilled about having so much to spend with him.

After the game of Epic Spoons (which Sasuke-kun had won), Naruto suggested going outside to play around the house which turned into a big game of chase-Naruto-around-Konoha. Team 7 had wound up at the park where, of course, they just had to play on all the equipment. Sakura was well aware that she was far too old for it, but she had been so stressed lately. She had been worried about graduating the academy, studied like crazy for the test, and immediately was thrown into another test where failure meant she'd never be a ninja. Plus she and Ino weren't talking anymore. Sakura hadn't realized how much she had needed to have a good time every now and then. She was only twelve after all.

Naruto and Sakura had taken turns on the slide until she realized that Sasuke-kun had sat down on a swing.

"I'll be right back," Sakura told Naruto and walked over to the swing set.

"Hey, Sasuke-kun," She said. "Is this swing taken?"

He shook his head and Sakura took a seat. She halfheartedly swung for a while.

"This is fun," she said after a while.

"Hn,"

"Are you having fun, Sasuke-kun?"

"Hn,"

Sakura wasn't sure if "hn" meant "yes" or "no". Maybe it just meant "shut up".

"Why won't you talk to me? We're supposed to be a team." Sakura said. She wasn't sure if she was angry or just sad. She really was a whirl wheel of emotions, and Sakura hated not being in control of it.

"This isn't a mission," Sasuke-kun finally said. "It's more like babysitting." He pointed at Naruto who was currently hanging upside down from the jungle gym.

Naruto waved at the two of them. Sakura waved back. She'd made a promise to try to be nicer to him, because she was ashamed of how she'd been so mean to them when they'd first met. Sure he was annoying, but telling Naruto she hated him was like kicking a puppy; an annoying puppy. Sakura wasn't even sure that Naruto was capable of hate.

"It's not that bad," Sakura said.

"We're not learning anything useful," stated Sasuke-kun.

Sakura sighed. _"How can you be so perfect, but at the same time be so clueless,"_ she thought.

"Sasuke," Sakura tried to sound as professional as possible. "We're learning the most important lesson ever: how to make friends. Our bonds keep us together. The bonds I keep trying to build with you and Naruto so we can be friends."

Sasuke-kun made a small disgusted noise, but Sakura continued.

"Friends will do you far more good on the battle field than any kind of training. You can't fight a war by yourself, no one can. Also, Kakashi-sensei is gone now so there's no way for him to teach you anything," she added.

Sauke-kun stared at her for a second. He seemed to be reevaluating her.

"I don't need friends," he finally said. "But since Kakashi's gone, I'll go along this for now."

Sakura felt her heart pound harder and her stomach filled with tiny butterflies. _"That was the most he ever said to me!"_ she thought overjoyed.

She smiled. "Let's do something then!"

Sasuke-kun almost looked startled.

"What?"

"Anything!"

Sakura jumped off the swing.

"Come on! Get up!"

Sakura was more excited and sacred than she'd ever been. In all her years practically stalking Sasuke-kun, she'd never had a conversation for more than five minutes with him. She pulled Sasuke-kun to his feet and led him to the grassy area by the playground.

"Teach me how to do a hand stand," she said.

"You mean you don't already know how?" Sasuke-kun sounded surprised.

Sakura shook her head. She admitted that, for a ninja, her balance sucked.

"Um, okay." Sasuke-kun said. "The first thing to do is to set your hands about a shoulder's width apart…"

He continued on with the gymnastic lesson for a few more minutes. Then Sakura tried to do a hand stand. It worked for about two seconds.

"Ahh!" Sakura screamed as she started to fall. She felt a hand around her ankle and her balance steadied.

"You've got to balance," Sasuke-kun said as he let go of her leg.

This time Sakura stayed upside down a little longer, before finally falling over.

"No, you're still doing it wrong," Sasuke-kun said. "Here, watch me."

He placed his hands on the ground and kicked his feet towards the sky. He stayed balanced on his hands and was even able to walk on his hands.

"See?" Sasuke-kun said after a while.

Sakura laughed. Sasuke-kun's normally pale face had turned red and his dark bangs were dragging on the ground. He flipped back over and turned back to Sakura.

"Don't mock me,"

For some reason that only made Sakura laugh harder. Sasuke-kun looked ridiculous with his bright red face and messed up clothes.

"Ok, ok," She finally managed.

The two of them continued on with the lesson. Naruto came over after a while and the three of them wound up doing an impromptu acrobatics show. After a while, exhausted from running around all day, Sakura, Sasuke-kun, and Naruto had collapsed in the grass and watched the sun as it set. Sakura was rather proud of herself. She had finally caught on how to do a hand stand.

" _Not that that was actually the goal,"_ Sakura thought happily.

"Come on guys," Sakura called out. "It's dark and I'm getting hungry. Let's go get dinner."

Naruto perked up instantly at the mention of food.

"Let's go!" he began running off in the vague direction of Ichiraku's ramen bar

Sakura smiled and stood up too.

"I guess we're having ramen, then," she said to Naruto's retreating back.

Sasuke-kun stood up too.

"Sakura," he said.

"Yes?"

"Thank you."

Sakura smiled. "No problem. Now let's get going before Naruto leaves us behind."

 **AN: I've given up on writing shorter chapters. This is the length they are probably going to be from now on. I hope that's not an issue for anyone.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Sorry this chapter is so short. The next part had to narrated by Naruto, but since I'm on summer break now, I can upload more frequently. =^_^=**

Sasuke liked to think that he was a patient person. He had to put up with morons on a daily basis ad hadn't cracked yet. His teacher was always late making him wait in the early morning for _hours_ and Sasuke rarely complained. Naruto followed him around everywhere half the time acting like his worst enemy half the time and the other half like his best friend, and Sasuke hadn't tried to kill him yet. Sakura was so freaking annoying all the time, and she was still breathing too. And of course there was that little matter with him having waited _four years_ andstill not having killed _that man_ yet. Of course he knew at this point he didn't have enough power so any effort would be suicide, but that didn't change the fact that Sasuke'd still been waiting patiently.

" _If I can handle all of that,"_ Sasuke thought as he was forced to carry bags of ramen to Naruto's apartment, _"why is this driving me insane?"_

Sasuke was seriously getting fed up with all of this teambuilding stuff. It was just so pointless. He'd tried to go along with for a while. Naruto's stupid game at least had been tolerable because it was competitive and the rules were reasonably clear, but now he was expected to interact with other people.

Now he had no idea what to do. Social skills were never Sasuke's strong suit. Not that he really cared anyway. Despite Sakura's pretty speech, Sasuke knew he didn't need friends. He'd been momentarily taken aback by it though. It was the first thing she'd ever said to him that held any value at all. Having friends might work for most people, but not for him. Sasuke say no need to talk to other people, and he didn't plan on waging a war. All he wanted was to kill _that man_ and be done with the revenge business as soon as possible. Sasuke was pretty sure that "as soon as possible" didn't include spending time that he could be using training with two people who, in his eyes, were little more than children.

He watched the two heads in front of him bob up and down as they walked. It seemed like Sakura and Naruto had really hit it off at the start of the mission. Sasuke could tell that Sakura still wasn't going to leave him alone, but she didn't seem to completely hate Naruto anymore. At least as long as he behaved. The blonde boy's behavior had been extremely good up until this point. He hadn't tried to one up Sasuke (probably because there was really nothing to one up him at) or said anything too inappropriate to either of them. In all honestly Sasuke was just waiting him to crack so he could vent some frustration.

The three genin finally reached Naruto's apartment and Naruto let them. Sasuke set the bag of ramen that Naruto had ordered, but hadn't been able to eat, on the table.

Naruto stuck his head through the doorway.

"Hey, put those in the fridge."

Sasuke grumbled, but obliged and opened the refrigerator door. Inside there was at least ten bowls of ramen and a half empty carton of milk.

" _Why did he bother buying more?"_ Sasuke wondered as he put the new ramen in the refrigerator. He decide he wouldn't bother questioning Naruto's logic; it tended to fall apart.

Sasuke could hear Naruto and Sakura talking in the living room, but he ignored them and went into Naruto's bed room to get his sleeping bag set out so he could go to bed. The more time he spent sleeping the better.

Sasuke set out his sleeping bag on the floor, brushed his teeth and put on his pajamas. He turned off the light and laid down to try to sleep. He stared at the ceiling and waited. No sleepiness came. Sasuke sighed ad turned over. Still he couldn't get to sleep. He just seemed not to be tired. He might have starred at the wall for hours until he finally drifted off, but the door was abruptly opened and Naruto came inside.

"Hey! Get up!"

"I'm sleeping," Sasuke replied.

Naruto frowned. "It's eight thirty."

"I'm tired."

"Get up!"

"Leave me alone, loser."

"Come on!"

"I said no."

"Fine. If you want to be a baby and go to sleep, go ahead. Me and Sakura-chan are going to stay up and do fun stuff, 'cuz we're adults and we're not tired." Naruto said obviously wanting to get Sasuke upset and get up.

" _It's not going to work because, unlike you, I'm not stupid."_ Sasuke thought.

"I don't care. Go away," said Sasuke out loud. He wasn't falling for it. They both new that Naruto was a kid and Sasuke was an adult.

Naruto frowned, but he walked to the door and opened it. "Just remember that you brought this on yourself." He said deadly seriously.

The door slammed and Sasuke was left in an empty room.

" _What the hell does that mean?"_ Sasuke thought. He wasn't sure if he'd upset Naruto or if he'd just been bluffing. Either way he's probably retaliate in some ludicrous prank that his hyperactive brain had managed to think up.

" _Great,"_ Sasuke thought. _"Well the damage has already been done. I'm not going to lose any sleep over this."_

Sasuke shut his eyes and tried to block out the sounds of Naruto and Sakura's happy chatter and laughter. They were having a good time, but Sasuke told himself he didn't care. Four years ago he's sealed his heart off from everyone. He'd decided that that kind of life wasn't for him so, he wasn't even going to try to be happy, but he couldn't help but feel, as he listened to Sakura and Naruto talk, as if his heart was trying to break the wall he'd put up.

" _Stop it!"_ he told it. _"You can't have them so just shut up."_

His heart beat faster.

" _No, you'll only the people close to you. Give it up. They don't want you around anyway. Not really. You're just some brat that they couldn't care less about. They're only being polite. Everyone really can't stand you."_ Sasuke told himself. He didn't even know if what he said was true, but he knew that if he told himself it enough he'd believe it. It'd worked before, and it'd work again.

Sasuke kept on thinking until his heart had deaden and he felt indifferent again. Satisfied, he buried his head under his arms to block out the sounds of the other world he knew he would never be a part of.

 **AN: Sorry Sasuke. I don't like to make you sad, but I felt like it had to be done.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Ok, Sasuke's had his emo pity party. Let's have some fun now! =^_^=**

Naruto turned to leave, but stopped at the door. "Just remember that you brought this on yourself," he said menacingly to Sasuke and slammed the door after him.

He angrily stomped down the hall into the living room. He was going to get Sasuke back so good now he wouldn't know what hit him. The training wheels were off now. But what should his prank be? Something horrible. The worst he could think of. The only problem was that Naruto was out of ideas at the moment. He decided he'd think of it later.

"I take it he's not coming then?" Sakura-chan asked.

Naruto sat down on the couch next to her. "No."

Sakura frowned and pulled her legs up to her chest. She looked like she was about to cry, but hid it by playing with her long hair.

" _Damn it,"_ Naruto thought. _"That jerk's ruining everything."_ Now how was he supposed to do all his activates, let alone have any fun. More importantly, Sasuke'd made Sakura-chan sad. Naruto didn't want his new friend to be sad. Yeah, she fell apart because of a stupid reason, but sadness was sadness. Naruto had plenty of experience with being sad, and he'd be damned if he just sat there and did nothing while Sakura-chan suffered.

A plan started in Naruto's mind. It could be the perfect way to get revenge on him and also insure that he spend him with Sakura-chan and him. Sasuke might hate him forever, but what was friendship without lots of hate? Besides it would definitely make Sakura-chan happy.

"You know the problem with Sasuke?" Naruto asked.

Sakura-chan sniffed. "What?"

"He doesn't know how to have any fun, 'cuz he's so professional all the time."

"Yeah, that's true." Sakura-chan smiled.

"Well, how about we change that?" Naruto suggested slyly.

"hunh?"

"Say Sasuke was put in a situation that made him really uncomfortable and he broke out of his shell. Then he'd be cool with doing fun stuff with us. And what makes Sasuke more uncomfortable than anything in the world? Talking to girls." Naruto answered himself.

Sakura-chan looked confused. "How did you know?"

"He's 12. That's every 12 year old boy's greatest fear." Naruto simply stated.

Sakura-chan laughed. She looked cute when she laughed Naruto noticed. She threw her head back so that her hair flew out of her eyes and her cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

"Ok, let's do it!" she exclaimed happily. "I've been practicing flirting in the mirror for months."

"I don't need practice," Naruto counted.

He jumped off of the couch and put his hands together. There was a puff of white smoke and when it cleared Naruto-the-boy was gone. In his place was a very attractive Naruto-the-girl.

"Hey there!" She said blowing Sakura-chan a kiss.

"Naruto! You stop that right now!" Sakura-chan said sounding scandalized.

"What's wrong?" Naruto asked. They had agreed on this plan.

Sakura-chan covered her eyes. "No! I'm not looking at you again until you put some clothes on!"

Naruto frowned. "Oh, come on, Sakura-chan!" she begged "think of Sasuke's face when he sees me like this!" she gestured to her body.

"No! Don't make me punch you! Go jujitsu some clothes on!"

"Fine," Naruto said. She quickly jujitsued some clothes causing another puff of white smoke. "Ok you can look now."

Naruto watched Sakura-chan opened her eyes to find her fully clothed in a fitted form of Naruto-the-boy's jumpsuit.

Naruto smiled and whipped her long blonde hair around hitting Sakura-chan in the face.

Sakura laughed. "You look ridiculous, Naruto."

Naruto winked. "It's Naruko now," she said.

"Let's get started then, Naruko." Sakura-chan giggled. "We have a lot of planning to do"

Sakura-chan held up her hands. "Wait, um Naruko. Why are you doing this? You don't really like Sasuke-kun like I do."

Naruko flashed her a sly smile. "One:," she held up a finger. "I like messing with people. Two:," she held up another finger. "he started it. And three: who said I don't like Sasuke too?"

"Hunh?" asked Sakura-chan.

Naruko laughed at the surprised look on her face. She didn't really like Sasuke; this just fell under the category of messing with people. Naruko wasn't sure who she had a crush on. It wasn't like being a girl really changed anything. Maybe Sakura-chan, but she wasn't sure. Sakura-chan was a lot different when she was living with her as opposed to just seeing her in class.

"Never mind," Naruko said. "Let's get started!"

"Ok, I think we're ready!" Naruko said after a few minutes of planning.

"No, these things take time." Sakura-chan said. She pulled Naruko back down again. "This needs to be perfect!"

" _Oh, come on."_ Naruko thought. _"Planning doesn't take this long."_

Naruko almost refused, but then realized that Sakura-chan would be unhappy if they just went in without a plan, and the whole point of this exercise was to make her happy. So Naruko just smiled.

"Ok, then."

The two girls giggled and continued with their schemes.

"Is he asleep yet?" Sakura-chan asked.

"I don't know," Naruko answered. _"Seriously how am I supposed to know?"_ she thought.

"Go check,"

"I can't. I look a little different now, or maybe you haven't noticed?" Naruko shot back.

"Oh my god, you're worse than Ino." Sakura-chan said and then she smiled. "I think I like you better as a girl. I'll be right back."

She left leaving Naruko confused. _"I think I'm equally cute…"_ she pouted.

"No! Go away!" came Sasuke's muffled voice from inside Naruto's bed room.

Sakura-chan returned.

"I swear he's an insomniac," she said.

Naruko laughed. "I guess we have extra time then," she said. "You want to learn a dance routine?"

Sakura-chan laughed again. "Let's go for it!"

"Ok, I think were good now," Naruko said. "Hey Sakura…" She turned around to find Sakura-chan asleep on the couch.

"Oh, come _on_!" she said exasperatedly. Sakura-chan couldn't fall asleep now.

"Get up sleepyhead," Naruko stage wisped shaking her awake.

"I…I'm up…" Sakura-chan said looking at Naruko with bleary eyes.

Naruko sighed. She'd forgotten that not everyone had the energy she had. It was actually a freakishly large amount compared to most people. She was never going to get anything done with Sakura-chan still only half awake.

"I'm going to make some coffee," She said going into the kitchen.

Sakura-chan had wrapped herself in a blanket and seemed to be nodding off when Naruko returned with the coffee.

"Here," Naruko said handing her a mug. "You're no use to me asleep."

"I'm not… even going to question why you have coffee…" said Sakura-chan taking her mug. "Thanks."

Naruko took a mug for herself. She counted the seconds it took for Sakura-chan's coffee to take affect while sipping her own. Approximately three minutes later Sakura-chan was up and bouncing off the walls.

" _Hunh,"_ Naruko thought. _"She must have a low threshold."_

"Ok, you ready now?" Naruko asked. The two of them had seemed to perplexingly switched roles for the moment. Naruko was the level headed one while Sakura-chan was a ball of energy. Naruko decided she needed more coffee.

Sakura-chan giggled. "I've never been so ready!"

Now, fully energized by her own coffee, Naruko laughed as well and set off to the room where Sasuke was sleeping.

The two girls flattened themselves against the wall and peeked into the dark room.

"One my mark," Naruko whispered.

"Three,"

Naruko smiled. Sasuke was going to get it now. He'd have to acknowledge them if two girls came bursting into his room in the middle of the night.

"Two,"

Naruko looked over at Sakura-chan. She was almost giddy with excitement. She made a mental note that Sakura-chan wasn't a bad prankster. She would have to use her for future pranks.

Naruko tightened her grip on the doorframe.

"Three!"

 **AN: Cliff hanger! Sorry guys. Hey, does anyone have any idea about what they want to happen in this story? If you do, please let me know.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: How does one write romance? Don't do what I did; this is closer to crack. =^_^=**

Sakura charged into the bedroom after Naruko. Sasuke-kun was still asleep in the dark. Sakura flipped the light switch and turned to find Naruko jumping on top of Sasuke-kun.

"Think fast!" Sakura shouted.

Sasuke-kun tried to get up, but Naruko had effectively tackled him.

"WHAT THE HELL, NARUTO! LET ME GO!" Sasuke-kun screamed.

Sakura had to laugh which was odd for her. Ordinarily, she would be on Sasuke-kun's side and yelled at Naruko for bothering him.

"Ok, Naruko," she said. "He's not going anywhere."

She crossed the room and pulled Naruko off the still surprised Sasuke-kun. Naruko pouted and whined, but let go of him. Sakura extended her hand and pulled Sasuke-kun to his feet.

"Um, thanks-Hey! Stop that!" he yelled because Sakura had wrapped her arms around him.

Sakura smiled. Phase one complete: Make Sasuke-kun utterly confused. Sakura knew that none of what they were doing was serious but, since she and Naruko had thrown social protocol out the window, it was really nice to finally hug Sasuke-kun.

" _Maybe one day I can do this for real,"_ she thought as she let him go.

"I'm so sorry Sasuke-kun," Sakura apologized. "You might want to sit down; there's something I want to tell you."

"Why are you a girl?" Sasuke-kun asked Naruko completely ignoring Sakura.

Sakura sighed. Why did he never listen to her?

"All will be revealed," Sakura said. "Now, sit."

The look on Sasuke-kun's face was almost too adorable. His forehead had creased in confusion and he was looking at Sakura with huge, pitiful eyes. He looked like an abandoned puppy. It almost made Sakura break character.

"Do it," she said in an even tone.

Sasuke-kun reluctantly took a seat on Naruto's bed. Sakura smiled and sat down next to him. Naruko sat on his other side and bounced happily on the bed.

Sakura sent her a look.

"What?" Naruko said innocently.

Sakura ignored her last comment. Naruko was almost too good at playing her role. Sakura wondered if she really did have a thing for Sasuke-kun. She would have to investigate it later.

Sakura took Sasuke-kun's hand and made him look at her.

"I have something very important to tell you, Sasuke-kun," she said. "I know we don't know each other very well, but over the years I've really grown attached to you. You're always so cool and strong and smart and you protect your teammates. Sasuke-kun," she paused for dramatic effect "I'm in love with you."

There was a moment of silence.

"Yeah, I already knew that," Sasuke-kun said.

" _Uh oh,"_ Sakura thought. She wished that everything she said wasn't true, or at least that she hadn't made it so obvious over the years. Maybe then there would be some shock value. She glanced nervously at Naruko who mouthed the words _"Keep going"_.

"No, I mean it. I really do! I'd do anything for you." She continued.

"I know. Why do you think I avoid you?" Sasuke-kun stated.

This wasn't working. _"This was a stupid plan,"_ Sakura thought, but she'd committed to it now.

"Well, it's good that you know, Sasuke-kun, because we have a problem: Naruko's in love with you too,"

Sasuke jerked his head around. "Seriously?" he asked.

" _There it is,"_ Sakura thought. _"Finally something with shock value."_ Maybe Naruko's plan hadn't been a bad as she had initially thought.

"Most definitely," Naruko said. She launched into a very long and confusing speech. Something about her really connecting to Sasuke-kun after his traumatic experience and always wanted to be better than him so she always protect him. There was also something about how she liked being a girl better anyway. Sakura was in awe that Naruko could recite something so long and complicated with a straight face, especially since this a prank. Her part had only been a few sentences since she and Naruko had both figured that her story was more believable.

Sasuke-kun looked very uncomfortable by the time Naruko had finished. Sakura guessed that he didn't like the fact that he hadn't noticed Naruko's crush on him and didn't like the idea of being in the same room as two girls who were both crushing on him.

"So?" Naruko asked Sauke-kun after she finished while giving him big, blue, puppy dogs eyes.

Sasuke opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Aww, you're so cute when you're speechless," Sakura said. Hey, it wasn't like she had any dignity left at this point anyway.

"Okay," Sasuke-kun held up his hands. "Let me get this straight; you're in love with me," He pointed at Sakura. She nodded. "And you're also in love with me." He looked at Naruko.

"Yep."

"So why don't you just work it out between you?" Sasuke-kun asked almost desperately.

Naruko made a small shocked noise. "That would _not_ be lady like!"

"I've seen you eat. Since when do you care about being lady like?" Sasuke-kun asked angrily.

"I'm sensitive about that! Don't bring it up!" Naruko wailed.

" _Amazing,"_ Sakura thought. _"They're still fighting…"_

"Stop it you two!" Sakura interrupted. "Sasuke-kun, we've come up with a solution; were going to let you decide you want to go out with after we both give a performance so that you know we're worthy of you."

"I pick no one!"

Sakura sighed. Sasuke-kun seemed allergic to romance or something.

"Just wait until we give our performances," Sakura pouted. "Maybe you'll change your mind."

"I'm going first!" Naruko said.

Sakura turned to her menacingly. "I had a crush on him before you; I'm going first." Sakura knew that Naruko wouldn't refuse. After all, the first rule of improve was "never say no". Besides, Naruko had promised that her performance would be extra bad.

"So, Sasuke-kun," Sakura asked shyly. "I need you for my performance."

Sasuke-kun's face turned bright red. "What are we doing?" he asked suspiciously.

Sakura laughed. "Oh, nothing really. I'm going to teach you how to dance." She smiled innocently.

"No way. I'm a ninja. I don't dance," said Sasuke-kun.

He tried to leave but Naruko blocked his way.

"I'd hate to see you leave, Sasuke-kun," she said. "I'd have to tackle you again and who knows where my mouth might wind up?"

"Fine, I'm staying."

Sakura lead Sasuke-kun into the middle of the room and took both his hands in hers. They'd have to pretend there was music, because their only option was Naruko play something, and she was not musical.

Sakura took a step and bumped into Sasuke who hadn't moved.

"You need to step back when I step forward. Who taught you how to dance?" Sakura asked.

"No one. I was too busy being a ninja."

"That explains it," Sakura grumbled. "It's ok. I still love you, Sasuke-kun."

" _I just wish it wasn't true,"_ She thought as she began trying to teach Sasuke the dance anyway. Love often got in the way of many other aspects of her life, but she'd still never give it up.

Sasuke-kun was not a quick learner and by the time they performed the short routine, half an hour had passed. He wasn't happy at all and was looking daggers at Sakura by the time they finished. She shrugged. She hasn't minded hold his hand for half an hour.

Naruko laughed. When Sasuke-kun sat down on the bed.

"You were the girl."

He shifted his glare to her. "What?"

"No he wasn't," Sakura said huffily. "He didn't know what he was doing, so I lead."

"Which makes him the girl." Naruko countered.

"How do you even know that?" Sasuke-kun questioned completely flustered.

Naruko just winked at him.

"Anyway, I think it's my turn now. Oh, don't worry," she said seeing the look on Sasuke-kun's face "You don't have to do a thing."

Naruko jumped off the bed and stroke a dramatic pose in the middle of her bedroom.

"What is she doing?" Sasuke-kun asked nervously.

"Oh, Sasuke-kun, shall I say how I love you…" Naruko began singing.

"Oh no," Sasuke-kun said in a small voice.

"You are the best ninja I ever saw,

Your hair is so beautiful, like ebony,

And you are the strongest ninja, besides me…" Naruko continued.

"This doesn't even rhyme!" Sasuke moaned trying to cover his ears without Naruko noticing.

Sakura had to agree that it was pretty awful. Naruko got more and more off key the more she sang and without musical accompaniment, none of her mistakes were hidden. Of course Sakura knew that Naruko was trying to sound bad on purpose, but it didn't make it any more bearable.

"…When I first met you I knew I loved you,

Our first kiss was magical, until Sakura-chan beat me up…"

Sakura bristled at that point. The three genin had agreed that it had never happened when they were assigned the same team. It was pretty low of Naruko to bring it up, but it did get quite a reaction out of Sasuke-kun.

"OKAY! STOP IT!" Sasuke-kun screamed jumping off the bed. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry! This has to fall under cruel and unusual punishment!"

"But I'm just getting to the good part," Naruko whined.

"Naruko, stop it." Sakura said. They'd had their fun. Sasuke-kun was probably going to start attacking them to get away if Naruko continued.

"Fine." Naruko said. There was a puff of white smoke and Naruko was gone. In her place was regular old Naruto. Sasuke-kun inched a couple inches away from him.

"Oh, shut up Sasuke," Naruto said even though Sasuke had said nothing. "I don't really have crush on you if that's what you're scared about."

"No, I'm just don't want there to be a phase two," Sasuke-kun said. He looked around the room as if expecting something to jump out at him.

Sakura laughed. She guessed that they'd really sacred him.

He turned to Sakura.

"What about you?" he asked. "I swear if you say that you've just been pretending to like me all these years, I'm going to have a mental breakdown."

Sakura just blushed.

"I think her crush is for real," Naruto interjected.

Sakura scoffed. He only "thought it was for real". Her love for Sasuke-kun was undying and he better not forget it.

 **AN: Yay! I'm done! I kept spelling "Naruko" NAruko which got very frustrating…**


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Hey guys! No, I'm not dead. Why would you ask such a thing? Oh, oh. I was supposed to update two days ago? Hehe, sorry about that… =^_^=**

Sasuke almost didn't go to breakfast the following morning. When he woke up Naruto and Sakura were both gone despite the fact that they both had less sleep than him. Sasuke decided he'd learned two very important lessons the last night: 1. When Naruto wants you to play with him, SAY YES! You will not like the outcome otherwise. 2. If a girl tells you she's in love with you, don't look back, run. RUN AS FAST AS YOU CAN! JUST THE HELL OUT OF THERE.

Sasuke knew that if he just sat in the bedroom, eventually Naruto or Sakura would come to find him, and he really didn't want that to happen. Who knew what they could have planned while he just sat there. So, against his better judgement, Sasuke went out into the main house looking for his teammates.

Sakura and Naruto were both having breakfast in the kitchen. Sakura was eating some kind of cereal, while Naruto was eating one of his many left over bowls of ramen. It seemed to be almost all he ate despite the fact that it was definitely a breakfast food.

Sasuke grabbed a bowl from one of Naruto's cupboards and poured himself the cereal. Sakura looked nervously at him like she wanted to say something, but didn't. Sasuke scooted as far away from the other two genin as he could without leaving the table.

After last night, he didn't even want to be in the same city as them anymore. The whole reason Kakashi had put them on this stupid mission together was to build trust with each other.

" _Great job, Kakashi,"_ Sasuke thought. _"This utterly failed."_

There was no way he was ever going to trust Sakura or Naruto ever again. He had known that he would have watch out for Naruto, but now Sakura was on his radar too. Sasuke hoped Kakashi would finish up with his mission soon so he could go back home.

Naruto finished eating and took out a sheet of paper form his pocket.

"Hmm, there are several things we could do today," he said looking at it. He seemed completely unfazed by the previous night's events.

" _Oh no you don't. I'm not doing anything with you two,"_ Sasuke thought. He didn't care if it was part of the mission. He'd take a failing grade if it meant he could get away from Naruto and Sakura. They made his emo wall crack, and he didn't like that. That wall was there for a reason!

"Screw this," he said getting up from the table. "I'm going home,"

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura protested.

"No, I mean it. I'm leaving,"

Sasuke was done. He was done with this stupid mission. He was done with Naruto and Sakura. He was done with trying to act happy. He was done with trying to be nice to other people. He was going home to train. Actual training, not this stupid team building stuff.

Sasuke got up from the table and made his way towards the door.

"Get, back here!" Naruto yelled from behind him.

Sasuke didn't say anything.

"Why are you so keen to leave?" asked Naruto.

"Shut up, Naruto," Sasuke said. Like hell Naruto didn't know the reason he wanted out.

"You know," said Naruto in deep thought. "That's what people say when they have no come back."

Sakura shook her head. "Nah. When people really have no come back they say-" She abruptly stopped talking. Sasuke waited for a moment for her to speak, but then he got it.

"Oh, I get it!" Naruto said laughing. "That's good."

Sasuke sighed. He was amazed just how distracted Naruto could be. He opened the door and set off down the hall. He hadn't made it two steps down the hallway before he heard footsteps. As he turned, Sasuke say both Naruto and Sakura following him. He quickened his pace.

" _I'm not going back,"_ he told himself.

No, he didn't care that, despite the previous night, he'd had the best time he'd had in years. Yes, even though Naruto and Sakura were annoying as hell, they had brief flashes of actually being fun to around. Like when he's shown Sakura how to do a handstand or when Naruto had hidden his spoon in the spoon draw because no one would find it there. Still, they were really annoying little kids most of the time. Sasuke didn't want to be around them anymore. Okay, fine. He did, but that was NOT the point. He was still mad at the two of them for that stupid prank they pulled on him last night. He'd about had a heart attack when he'd been woken up by Naruko jumping on him.

Sasuke set off in the direction of the Uchiha Complex. He was going home. After a few minutes, he realized that Naruto and Sakura were still following him. He rolled his eyes in an annoyed fashion and kept on walking. Those two just didn't know when to give up. A few minutes after that, the other two genein were still following Sasuke.

" _Okay, that's it. Enough's enough. They need to go home."_

Sasuke turned sharply to face Sakura and Naruto.

"Leave me alone," he said angrily.

"No," said Naruto. Sakura just shook her head. She looked at Sasuke pleadingly with her huge green eyes.

"Why?" Sasuke asked. Orders weren't working. Maybe if he got their reasoning, he'd be able to counter it. "Why won't you leave me alone?"

"Because we're your friends, Sasuke-kun," Sakura answered.

"Really?" he asked.

"I'm not," Naruto said. "I hate your guts."

Sakura punched him on the arm.

"Shut up, Naruto!" she turned back to Sasuke. "Yes. We really are and we're not going to let you go off by yourself and be miserable for the next few days, because that's what friends do. We're not leaving not even if you try to fight us. The sooner you accept the fact that there are people that care about you, the better it's going to be for you."

And, in that moment, Sasuke realized that a: Naruto was an awful liar, b. Sakura was really good at giving impromptu speeches, and c. he had friends.

" _No. No no no. I don't want friends!"_ he thought. Friends were weakness. They were leverage. They were too easy to lose one way or another. He'd purposely tried not to make friends. Yet, they'd found him anyway. One hyperactive, orange ninja wannabe and one useless, pink-haired fangirl. They were both looking at him hopefully.

"Please come back?" Naruto asked.

Great, now both of them were doing the big eye thing. Sasuke wanted to refuse, he really did, but he couldn't. Not because he liked Sakura and Naruto, because he didn't, but because he wasn't cruel or heartless. The both really seemed to want him back. He knew that Sakura, in particular, would be crushed if he just up and left. The wall Sasuke had put up after _that night_ began to crack a little and his hear beat faster.

" _I hate you,"_ Sasuke told his heart. One of these days, he was going to have to find a way for it to stop caring so much about these stupid kids. That would have to wait for now though.

"Fine," he finally said to Sakura and Naruto.

"Yay!" Naruto cheered and Sakura ran forward and hugged him.

Sasuke had to smile. They really were little kids. His wall cracked open a little more.

" _My friends are losers,"_ he thought affectionately as he felt Sakura against him.

"Okay, okay," he said prying Sakura's arms off of him. "That's too much."

Naruto took out his sheet of paper and began going through he events muttering to himself.

"Ok, on the docket for today are blowing bubbles in public and getting drunk," he said.

"Why do-you know what? No, I'm not even going to question it," Sasuke said. He didn't care that half the things Naruto wanted to do were for five year olds and the other half were for adults. He could definitely go for getting drunk right about now.

 **AN: I couldn't make Naruto say that he was Sasuke's friend because of the Naruto vs. Sasuke battle in canon. Remember? The one where Sasuke leaves and doesn't come back FOR YEARS! AND THEN HE LEAVES AGAIN AND GOES ON THAT MISSION OF "SELF DISCOVERY"! Huh? That's still a spoiler? I'm getting too worked up about this? No, I'm not. Come back, Sasuke!**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Hey guys. I've been really busy lately. My dad wanted my help to fix up his old house so he can sell it, so I've been living down there for the last few days. I've had little time for writing. The house also has no internet access, but that's irrelevant. Anyway, I will update again soon. =^_^=**

Naruto was very excited. Once he had become a genin, he'd become a full blown adult in the eyes of Konoha. Along with this came the access to all bars. Naruto had wanted to go earlier but had no one to go with. It was just pathetic to go to a bar alone. Only people's girlfriends had just dumped them did that.

Now that Naruto had Sakura-chan and Sasuke to hang out with, he could do almost anything he wanted and not look like a total loser. He'd been working hard to check everything off of his list.

Naruto, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke entered one of the bars in Konoha. All they had to do was present their headbands and no one looked twice at them.

"What do we do now?" asked Sakura-chan nervously. She'd been worrying all the way there. Apparently she was concerned that her parents would catch her.

Naruto smiled. For once in his life, he was glad that he didn't have a mom or dad. They seemed to Sakura-chan suffer.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't know."

Naruto didn't either, but he decided to put on his usual air of confidence anyway. "Come on guys!" he said enthusiastically. He led Sakura-chan and Sasuke to the counter. A bartender walked over to them and waited to take their order.

"Um, hi," said Naruto. "Yes, we would like to order something," he turned to Sakura-chan and Sasuke. "What do you want?" he whispered.

Sasuke shrugged. He hadn't said much since he'd almost left.

Sakura-chan, on the other hand, smiled and began speaking directly to the bartender. "We're all new here. What do you recommend?" she asked.

The bartender rattled off a list of beverages too fast for Naruto to understand half of them. Sakura-chan seemed to consider Naruto and Sasuke for a moment, before ordering for all three of them. Sakura-chan then pulled up a stool and motioned for Naruto and Sasuke to sit on either side of her. Naruto stared at her.

"How did you do that?" he asked. Sakura-chan had seemed nervous, downright scared a moment ago. Now she seemed much more confident, as if she'd done this before.

"What do you think Ino and I do on our "sleepovers"?" Sakura-chan answered.

Naruto opened his mouth, but then shut it again. "Are you an alcoholic?" he finally asked.

Sakura-chan laughed. "Not hardly, but I'm not quite as angelic as everyone thinks. Don't you dare tell my parents, Naruto!" She added.

Naruto promised he wouldn't, but he was a little upset. Sakura-chan definitely was different than he imagined. She punched him, told him to shut up, and overall was more of an adult than he was. He didn't like that. He needed to prove that he was the most grown up. If he wasn't careful she might wind up being the hokage.

Sasuke cleared his throat loudly to snap Naruto back to reality. Their drinks had arrived. Naruto smiled. He'd forgotten something; Sakura was in love with Sasuke. That meant that her priorities were getting him to like her, not becoming the greatest ninja ever. Ok, it looked like he was safe.

Naruto sipped his drink. It tasted awful. Naruto thought if you mixed vinegar, limes, and some old dirt that had been sitting in your kitchen in a jar together, you would have something similar to what his drink was.

"Blah!" he exclaimed pushing it away from him. "This is awful! People drink this? For fun? I don't get it!" Naruto poked at the drink as if he thought it was evil. It was clearly making him look bad on purpose. It, of course just sat there in its glass. Naruto eyed it for a moment, then he blew on it making small droplets spill over the edge and fall onto the table.

"Cut that out. You're not five," said Sasuke from the other side of Sakura-chan. He seemed not to be having any problems.

"How are you doing that?" Naruto asked incredulously.

Sasuke shrugged. "I don't like sweet things."

Sakura-chan laughed. "Don't worry, Naruto. We'll get you something else."

"No!" Naruto said with finality. "I can do this." If Sasuke could drink the whatever-it-was without any issues, he could too.

He took the glass and gulped down some of it. It tasted no better than it did the first time. Naruto tried to swallow but wound up choking. Sakura-chan had to wack him on the back him on the back until he could recover.

Sasuke smiled. "It's so cute when you try,"

"I think you're drunk," Naruto said back. No way would Sasuke describe anything anyone did as cute.

"Ok, I don't care if you think you can "do it"; I'm not saving your life again," said Sakura-chan. "I'm ordering you something else."

Naruto pouted, but he reluctantly agreed. His next drink came with a pink umbrella.

"NO!" he said when he saw it. "No, no, no. I don't want this."

Sakura only laughed. "Just try it,"

Naruto ripped off the umbrella and stuffed it in his pocket before trying the offensive beverage. He frowned and glared at Sakura-chan for a second.

"Damn you, Sakura," he said before taking another sip.

Sakura-chan seemed to think that was pretty funny. She threw back her head and laughed. It seemed to be infectious, because Naruto joined in after a few moments, and even Sasuke cracked a smile.

After a while and a lot of alcohol, Naruto noticed both Sakura-chan and Sasuke start to slip, but his mind seemed perfectly clear. On a hunch, Naruto actively tried to drink as much as possible. He concluded after his 11th drink, that he was immune to getting drunk.

" _Well, that's unfair,"_ he thought. _"I feel left out."_

He watched Sakura-chan and Sasuke for a while without much interest. Sasuke was telling Sakura-chan why tomatoes were the best food ever and how it upset him that they were so undervalued. Sakura—chan seemed a little better off than Sasuke, probably because she knew her limits better. She was nodding along, but didn't seem very interested.

"…and people don't even seem to care." Sasuke was saying. Naruto sighed. Didn't he have anything better to talk about that his favorite food? Apparently not. Naruto was going to tell him to shut up, but then thought better of it. Now that Sasuke was willing to talk, maybe Naruto could get some entertainment out of his day.

"I totally agree with you," He chimed in. "We need to raise awareness."

Sasuke's face light up. "Yes!" he said happily. "We can make posters, and petitions, and get people to recognize this as a real issue." Sasuke fell silent abruptly.

"What is it?" Naruto asked. He'd been enjoying the conversation, stupid as it was.

"I hate it here."

" _Great,"_ Naruto thought. _"Even when he's drunk, he's an emo."_

"No, I really do. I'm always alone."

Naruto's ears pricked up at the sound of that. So Sasuke didn't like being alone either.

Sasuke seemed to be struggling to communicate clearly. "I mean, people are always around me trying to talk to me, like you and Sakura. That's really annoying, you know?"

Naruto bristled, but didn't say anything.

"And I tell you to go away, but when you do, I get really lonely. I live in abandon town. And I can hear the wind rattle the doors and windows every day, but no one ever fixes it because everyone's dead. Everyone I care about is dead." Sasuke finished sadly.

Naruto didn't know what to say. What could he say? _"I'm sorry your whole family was murdered,"_ didn't seem to fit. And yet, Sasuke's situation was so similar to his. They were both all alone. Naruto would be lying if he said he didn't think about it too. Most of the time, he was always trying to forget it. Naruto was suddenly glad that he wasn't drunk too. He didn't need to start breaking down.

"Well, you can't change the past," Naruto said. He wasn't Sakura-chan. He was no good at making other people feel better, but since Sakura-chan was out of commission, he's have to try. "So, I don't know. Be happy?"

Sasuke nodded. He seemed pretty out of it. Naruto was pretty sure he wouldn't remember most of this night.

" _Well, I might as well try to have some fun,"_ he thought.

"Hey Sasuke!" he called out. "Why do people cut the crust off of their bread?"

Sasuke frowned and seriously considered the question. "I don't know. It makes no sense."

"I know! It's just another part of the bread."

"Downright wasteful." Sasuke concluded.

"Finally someone else who gets it!"

Sasuke laughed at that, and he and Naruto continued talking about less painful subjects.

 **AN: This was harder to write than you think. :/ I've never been drunk (no, I'm not an angel; I just don't see much point to it) so I wasn't quite sure how team 7 should react.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: Hello everyone! I'm in such a good mood today despite the fact that I'm in the process of writing three separate stories. Hmm, maybe that's why I'm happy. Anyway, please enjoy this latest chapter. =^_^=**

Sakura woke the next morning with a pounding headache. It was probably the worst she'd ever had.

" _Stupid Naruto,"_ she thought as she tried to stand up. Her efforts were futile and she was reduced to a ball on the floor. _"I'm never going to listen to him again."_

Sakura hoped that Naruto was feeling as bad as she was. This had been his plan after all. Sakura didn't normally wish intense pain on other people, only Naruto. The orange ninja annoyed her a lot of the time, but at the same time she kind of like him. He was like the annoying little brother she never wanted. Sakura, being an only child, wasn't quite sure how to react to him, so she often just went with her gut instinct; punch him.

After lying on the floor for a minute, Sakura tried to get up again. This time she managed to pull herself into a standing position with the help of Naruto's bed which was close to her sleeping bag. Her stomach immediately didn't like the new position and threatened to divulge everything Sakura had eaten the previous day. She deicide that she needed to get to the bathroom, now.

As Sakura slowly made her way towards the bathroom, she could hear someone else in the kitchen making a whole lot on noise. It was probably Naruto, because Sasuke-kun would never have the desire to cook let alone hum loudly and off key while doing it.

The bathroom was locked when Sakura got to it. She knocked on the door, but got no response.

"Sasuke's been in there for, like, half an hour," someone said behind her.

Sakura turned to find Naruto with a huge mixing bowl in one hand and a whisk in the other.

"I think he's throwing up," Naruto added.

Sakura noticed that Naruto looked completely fine and not hung over at all. He, as always, was full of energy and seemed to be unaware of how bad she was feeling right now.

"I hate you. This is unfair," Sakura said to Naruto.

Naruto grinned. "Tell me about it! Here I was, ready and willing to get drunk, and I find out I can't. It totally sucked! I had to carry you home while trying to get Sasuke to follow me. Do you know how heavy you are?"

Sakura would have punched him, but she felt too sick at the current moment.

"So I guess we both think it's unfair," Naruto concluded. "And knowing Sasuke, he probably thinks life is unfair to him 24/7. At least we all have something in common?" he finished with a smile.

The toilet in the bathroom flushed and Sasuke-kun emerged a minute later. His face was paler than usual and he clutched his stomach.

"I hate you," he said to Naruto.

Naruto smiled. "It seemed to be a common theme today."

Sakura wanted to help Sasuke-kun, to comfort him in some way. Maybe he was sick enough that he wouldn't mind it if she cuddled him, but her stomach suddenly lurched painfully and sent her into the bathroom.

She emerged a few minutes later only feeling slightly better to find Naruto back in the kitchen while Sasuke-kun sat on the couch in the next room. Sakura wondered what Naruto was cooking, because, to her knowledge, the only thing he had in his house was ramen and cereal.

"Hey, there, Sakura-chan," he asked when he saw her. "You feeling ok?"

Sakura nodded, but it made the world spin a little more. "I'm a bit better," she said.

"I'm making us lunch," Naruto said gesturing to the gigantic mess behind him in the kitchen. Sakura hoped that he's be cleaning it up himself. "So you can go over there and rest with Sasuke," Naruto continued. "Let me know if you get thirsty or something."

Sakura was suspicious at first. Why was Naruto being so nice to her all of a sudden? Then she realized that Naruto probably had to take care of himself every time he got sick. He could tell she wasn't feeling well and was only trying to make things easier for her.

" _How sweet,"_ she thought, but she didn't say it out loud, because she didn't wasn't Sasuke-kun to hear it. She already didn't have much of a chance with him, and she didn't want to make things worse for herself.

Sasuke-kun seemed to be staring off into space when Sakura joined him on the couch. She normally would try to make pleasant conversation with him, but Sakura really wasn't in the mood for any sort of negativity today and Sasuke-kun was almost always negative, so she just sat next to him in silence.

"What? No "How are you, Sasuke-kun?" today?" he asked after a moment.

Sakura almost had a heart attack. He wanted to talk to her!

"I'm sorry," she apologized. "How are you?"

"Crappy."

" _Seriously? You wanted to tell me that?"_ Sakura thought, but she did agree with it.

"Me too."

"I'm starting to think that was a bad idea."

Sakura laughed. "You're just starting to think that?" she paused for a moment. "It's not all bad though. I think we just went a little too overboard last night. It's actually pretty fun sometimes." Oh my God. Maybe she was an alcoholic.

Sasuke-kun sighed. "I'll take your word for it."

Sakura smiled. She was starting to feel better and talking to Sasuke-kun had gotten considerably better since they'd been living together. He couldn't ignore her anymore.

"So…" Sakura searched for something else to talk about. "Have you been enjoying yourself since we got here?"

Sasuke-kun shrugged. "Kind of. Naruto's still annoying as hell, but I think it beats being alone in the Uchiha complex. I'm not even sure what I'd be doing if I'd gone home yesterday. I do miss training though."

Sakura nodded. She was glad she and Naruto had stopped him from leaving. "Maybe we can spar today if we feel better." She suggested.

Sasuke-kun just gave her a look. "Oh, please. I'd just beat you."

"I'm not that bad," Sakura countered.

The two went on comparing attacks and deciding who's were untimely cooler.

"…but you don't have a sharingan yet, so it doesn't count!" Sakura was arguing when Naruto came into the living room to tell the other two genins that lunch was ready.

"Tada!" Naruto said proudly when they'd all entered the kitchen.

Sakura looked at the huge mess of dishes in the sink and wondered if she was supposed to be impressed with that, but then realized that Naruto was probably referring to the "food" on the table. There was a big pot of what looked like several different kinds of ramen on the table along with some blackened bread and a bowl of noodles from what had once been miso ramen.

" _That's not food,"_ Sakura thought. She knew that Naruto practically worshipped ramen, but this seemed a little extreme. She looked at Sasuke-kun who seemed, if his facial expression was any indication, to be thinking along the same lines as her.

"See," Naruto said walking over to the table. "It's ramen stew. And this," he pointed at the burnt bread "is ramen bread. It's bread that I cooked in ramen broth. And that's the topping for our ramen bread," he finished indicating the bowl of noodles.

"Naruto, was it necessary to make all this?" Sakura asked. She wondered if this was another prank or if Naruto had genuinely tried to do something nice.

Naruto looked sheepish. "It was going to go bad in a few days, but I've made this before. It's really good! You should try it."

Sakura looked nervously looked at Sasuke-kun who shook his head vehemently.

"I really don't want to," Sakura said apologetically.

"I worked really hard on it though," Naruto pleaded.

Sakura looked back to Sasuke-kun. She didn't want to upset Naruto, but she really didn't like ramen to begin with and didn't want to eat the almost expired concoction Naruto had made. Sasuke-kun seemed to understand.

"No," he said. "That's not food."

" _Thank you, Sasuke-kun,"_ Sakura thought.

Naruto shrugged. "Fine. Your loss. Kiba says it's an acquired taste anyway."

Sakura gulped at that. Kiba was known for eating almost eating anything. If he didn't like it, it must be really bad.

"It's nice of you to think of us," Sakura said to Naruto who had already started eating. "But I think we'll just eat cereal."

Sasuke-kun nodded.

Relived that she'd dodged that bullet, Sakura went to the cupboard to get out bowls for Sasuke-kun and her cereal.

 **AN: I've made ramen bread before…it was pretty bad. I don't recommend it unless you are a good cook and can keep it from burning. I, clearly, couldn't…**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Wow! My fanfic's chapters are officially in the double digits!**

 **Sam (my sister): You're too late! If you wanted acknowledge double digits, you should have done it last chapter!**

 **Me: Shut up. You know I'm slow on the uptake.**

 **Thanks guys for sticking with this. I hope I'll be able to continue it for a long time. I'd decided to take this in a slightly different direction today and write a little bit of action. I hope you like it. =^_^=**

"See," Sasuke said as he stood over Sakura. "You'll never beat me. Just give up."

The girl shook her head and stood up. "One more time," she ordered.

Sasuke rolled his eyes. They'd been at this for almost an hour and Sakura had yet to win a fight. She'd been close a couple times, but ultimately she didn't have the skills to beat Sasuke. Not that he had been able to do everything he wanted to. They were both still learning.

"Fine," he said. "But this is the last time."

Sakura nodded and put up her fists. They'd decided against using any weapons on the grounds that Kakashi wouldn't be happy if one of them got hurt.

Sasuke mentally groaned. Sakura's stance was wrong. Her feet were far too close together and she was slightly hunched over. She wouldn't be able to attack with any sort of power with a stance with that. She looked as if she was trying to take up as little space as possible, almost like she was scared.

Now, he could tell her, but what was the fun in that. He didn't want to become Kakashi 2.0 and have to teach her. Besides, his goal was improving himself, not Sakura, so he just put up his fits too.

The two stared at each other for a tense moment. Sasuke narrowed his eyes looking for any sort of movement from his opponent.

" _Element of surprise it is then,"_ Sasuke thought.

He swiftly brought his hand forward to strike Sakura in the chest, but he knew she would block it. Sure enough, the other genin countered his hand and set another shot straight toward his face.

" _Rude,"_ Sasuke thought blocking it with his forearm. With his other hand, he punched Sakura making her gasp fall back clutching her stomach. Sasuke took advantage of this by swing his fist into her side to knock her off balance.

Sakura managed to block most of the impact by flinging her arm out, but she swayed a little from where she was standing. Sasuke advanced, but was forced to shield his chest and head from Sakura as she simultaneously punched and kicked at him. Sasuke managed to block her punch, but her kick caught him squarely in the chest. Sasuke retreated a step and stood, panting, regarding his opponent.

" _She's injured,"_ Sasuke noticed. Sure enough, Sakura seemed to be favoring her right leg, leaning most of her weight on her left. She must have hurt it in one of their previous matches. _"If I can just tire her enough, she'll take herself out."_

With that thought in mind, Sasuke began attacking mercilessly. Their fists blurred as the two ninja exchanged blows. Sasuke, mostly on the offensive, sent his fists raining down on Sakura leaving her little chance to advance on him. The two's feet moved though the already trampled grass outside Naruto's apartment as if they were performing a strange dance. For the first time in days, Sasuke felt, well, light. Almost as if his feet were no longer toughing the ground. This felt good. It felt right. This was what he was meant to do. He never felt better than when he was training.

Through the flurry of fists and kicks, Sasuke could see Sakura slipping. He attacks were weaker and with more space in between. Mostly all she could do was defend Sasuke's attacks. Her arms shook as she tied to block his latest punch. Sasuke would have smiled if that was something he did regularly. He had her now. Sakura wouldn't last much longer; she was running on fumes.

Just as he thought it, Sasuke saw Sakura raise her foot to kick him, but her attack was so slow. This opportunity was too perfect for him to miss. Sasuke quickly stepped out of her way and grabbed her ankle in midair.

"One way ticket to the floor," he smirked.

Sasuke saw Sakura's green eyes widen in shock as understanding dawned on her. He took her leg and pushed back as hard he could. Time seemed to stand for a while while she failed her arms, but to no avail. Sakura hit the ground hard.

"So, what's the score?" Sasuke asked in mock sympathy. "16 me 0 you? I think that's about right."

Sakura didn't say anything, she just stood up. "Well, I hope you had fun, Sasuke-kun," she said. "Because I know I didn't."

Sasuke faulted. He'd been so caught up in the battle, he hadn't realized that he's really been hurting Sakura. He realized that she'd never really been interested in sparring; she'd wanted to make him happy. And he had and he hadn't cared enough to say 'thank you'. He'd just regarded her as annoying little kid. Sasuke realized that Sakura did a lot of little thing for him trying to get him to be happy and he'd rarely thanked her. Now he felt regret, but didn't know how to tell her without looking like a big semimetal idiot.

"Sakura," he paused. What has he supposed to say? 'Sakura, I've noticed how much of your time you give up for me and how much you sacrifice for me. I feel like a complete jerk for not appreciating it. I'm so sorry I've ignored you all these years. I know you have a crush on me, and I do like you, but just not in that way. You should give up on me and find someone else. I want you to be happy.' Was that was he was supposed to say? No. he couldn't "Thank you," he finally managed. He hoped that Sakura could imply the rest. She was a smart girl.

Sakura nodded. "No problem," she said happily. "Should we head in?"

Sasuke nodded. "Hn."

Sakura took a step forward, but made a small pained sound as her foot touched the ground.

"You're hurt," Sasuke observed.

Sakura tried to shrug it off. "I'm fine."

"Do you want help?" Sasuke asked a little unsure of himself.

"I'm ok," she said, but Sasuke knew she wasn't. She was desperately trying not to look weak in his eyes. Understandable since he'd just kicked her butt in the match, but she needed to know when accept help. She was luck he was feeling so sentimental right now.

"Let me help you anyway."

" _You do everything for me. Let me do something for you."_ Sasuke thought.

Sakura nodded and Sasuke walked over to her side. He pulled her arm over his shoulders and across his chest and held it firmly so she could lean some of her weight on him. The two finally made it up the stairs and into Naruto's apartment. It was slow going, but Sasuke didn't complain. He was pretty sure that Sakura couldn't have done this on her own.

"Okay, okay," he said as he reached Naruto's door. "Almost there."

Sakura nodded.

Sasuke indicated the door with his head, one arm was around Sakura's back and the other was keeping her hand in place, and looked expectantly at Sakura. She seemed to understand and knocked on the door.

"Coming!" shouted Naruto's muffled voice. After a few seconds, he opened the door only to hang in the doorway with that stupid expression on his face. "What did you do to Sakura-chan?" he said angrily, but then he seemed to think of something. "Oh, Kakashi-sensei's going to kill you."

 **AN: Hey, I know I've got some SasuSaku shippers out there, so this is for you. I'm not trying to bash your ship. Although Sasuke said he didn't 'like' Sakura, you can just look at it as he doesn't like anyone at the moment. He's 12 and very interested in his mission kill Itachi; he doesn't have a lot of time to think about girls. Besides, everyone develops differently, he could just be slow in the romance area. In the meantime, please enjoy the friendship between them.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: I'm not sure if there is really television in Konoha, but I think I saw it in a filler episode once. Correct me if I'm wrong. =^_^=**

Naruto helped Sakura-chan into his apartment, sat her down on the couch, and bent down to look at her ankle. Naruto wondered what had happened to her. She'd only been outside for about an hour, and now she was hurt. Her ankle was slightly swollen and red. Sakura-chan let out a small yelp when Naruto touched it.

"Sorry."

"No, I'm fine."

Naruto, not believing that for a minute, frowned at her. "I think I have some bandages in my room. I'll be right back."

He left to go find Sasuke. He was going to get revenge for Sakura-chan. The jerk had it coming anyway. It didn't matter if it had been an accident or not; no one hurt Naruto's friends. No one.

"Sasuke!" Naruto shouted when he found him in his kitchen.

"Naruto!" Sasuke shouted back.

Naruto blinked. "What?" he asked.

"That still is your name, isn't it?"

Naruto narrowed his eyes in confusion. Normally Sasuke ignore him or replied in one word answers. Quiet one word answers. He certainly didn't yell at him, or anyone for that matter. Sasuke didn't even seem angry. He looked perfectly calm. What was he doing?

Sasuke raised his eyebrow. "Hello? Anyone in there?"

"Yes!" Naruto yelled and then realized how stupid sounded.

Sasuke rolled his eyes.

Naruto struggled to remember what he was mad at Sasuke about. Was it him being better than him at everything? No. That wasn't it. It wasn't even true! Naruto was the best ninja ever! Sasuke sucked! He was a sucky ninja! He wasn't that cool anyway! Why did everyone think he was so great? Hmm, maybe he was mad about that too.

"You broke Sakura-chan!" Naruto shouted finally remembering.

Sasuke shrugged.

"No! You don't get to not care!"

"I'm apathetic about everything."

Naruto wasn't sure what 'apathetic' meant, but decided it must be a synonym for 'jerk'.

"People aren't toys. You can't just break one and get a new one!"

Sasuke shook his head. "I didn't hurt her. It was an accident. She's not even that injured."

Naruto knew it was true. Sakura-chan was going to be completely fine. He wasn't really upset about that, so why was he so mad?

"You still can't go around hurting people!"

"I'm not!"

Sasuke's lack of interest. Naruto decided that was why he was mad. He needed to be sorry. He needed look sad, or upset, or concerned. Something. Anything, but he didn't. Naruto was sure that if he threw Sasuke a surprise party and the next day ran over his dog, he'd have the exact same level of interest and facial expression. Sasuke went with a blank expression all the time. He did whatever he wanted without consideration for anyone else. He was always there when something went wrong, but he never cared. He didn't care about anyone but himself. Behind his cool attitude and ninja moves, Sasuke was just a selfish child.

"You're a jerk!" he screamed. It wasn't fair.

"Loser."

"Brat!"

"Chicken."

Naruto's hand was grabbing onto Sasuke's shirt before he knew he was doing.

"Let me go!" Sasuke shouted grabbing Naruto's hand and trying to pull it off of him.

Naruto raised his other fist.

"You need to care!" he shouted punching him. "You can't go around hurting your friends!"

"You're a hypocrite," Sasuke managed before Naruto hit him again. He frowned. "Get off of me right now, or I'm going to kill you in your sleep."

"I'd like to see you try," Naruto growled.

Sasuke managed to pry Naruto's hand off of him and flung him backwards. Naruto hit the counted behind him. The room spun for a second, but Naruto stood up and tried to focus on the fuzzy figure in front of him. Sasuke seemed to advancing on him. Naruto prepared himself for another attack, but it never came.

Sasuke had stopped a couple feet away from him. Sakura-chan was standing in front of him with her arms spread out shielding Naruto. What was she doing there? She was meant to be resting.

Sasuke glared daggers at her.

"Stop fighting," she said.

"Sakura-chan," Naruto said weakly. "You're not supposed to walking around."

Sakura-chan just sent him a look. "I was trying to rest, but then two idiots decided that now was a good time to rip each other apart."

She tuned back to Sasuke. "He was just upset," she told him. "Let it go."

Sasuke still looked angry, but he shrugged.

Naruto let go of the counter and pushed past Sakura-chan. He was done with this. He was going to his room. He'd seen enough of Sasuke for today.

"Naruto," Sakura-chan called. "Get back here."

Naruto didn't want to. After his fight, he wasn't in a good mood. He didn't feeling like talking to anyone. He really just wanted to disappear into his room for a while, but Sakura-chan was calling him. She was his friend, and he kind of had a moral obligation to her. Besides, if he left, that meant she would be alone with Sasuke, and Naruto knew how well that went last time.

"What?" he asked turning back to face the other two genin.

"You two need to apologize," Sakura-chan said.

Naruto and Sasuke both imeddiate launched in to a long and very loud protest.

"It's his fault-"

"-I'm not sorry-"

"-I never apologize for anything-"

"-emotions are for girls-"

"-and Naruto-"

"-hey! I-"

"-shut up both of you!" Sakura-chan yelled. "Or I will go through all the makeup I wear and explain, in great detail, why and how I apply it, and you will not be allowed to leave."

Naruto scowled. "I'm sorry that you're too stupid to see things that are right in front of your face." He said after a while.

"That doesn't count," Sakura-chan scoffed.

Naruto decided that he really didn't like her sometimes. So what if she was really cute? She was embarrassing him, and he hated that.

"Fine," he said. "I'm sorry I punched you, Sasuke."

"Hn."

There was a pause where Sakura-chan glared at him.

"I'm sorry too," he finally said.

"I have power," Sakura-chan giggled.

"Yeah, you're a freaking goddess," Sasuke said grumpily.

"Aww, I'm glad you think so, Sasuke-kun. I also accept angel, cherry blossom, and sweetheart."

"That's…not what I meant," Sasuke said. "Hey, Naruto," he changed the subject "aren't we meant to be doing something stupid today?"

Naruto frowned. "Well, we were going to go water skiing today-"

"-water skiing? Where?" asked Sakura-chan.

"On the lake."

Sasuke snorted. "Yeah, I can only seeing that going well."

Naruto nodded enthusiastically before he realized that Sasuke was being sarcastic. He quickly stopped and regained his composure.

"Yeah, well in light of recent events," Naruto pointedly looked at Sakura-chan's ankle "we're going to be seeing a movie instead. I planned on doing it anyway tomorrow. I guess I'll just have to move some stuff around. It's not like we've been doing a good job of sticking to my list anyway."

"So what movie are we watching?" asked Sakura-chan.

"Icha Icha Paradise. It just came out."

"Isn't that the book that Kakashi-sensei reads?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Naruto do you know what's in that book?"

"No!" Sasuke shouted. "Don't tell him! We want it to be a surprise, don't we?"

"What?" Naruto asked. Sasuke and Sakura-chan seemed to know something he didn't.

Sakura-chan gave Sasuke a questioning look and then just shook her head.

"Fine," she said. "Let's go see Icha Icha Paradise the movie."

Naruto ran to the door. They were back on track. Well, sort of. Sakura-chan and Sasuke had agreed to do something on his list. Finally something was going right. Maybe today would turn out alright after all.

* * *

"OH MY GOD! WHO WOULD WATCH THAT?!" Naruto screamed as the left the movie theater. "I AM SCARRED FOR LIFE!"

"I can't believe he didn't already know," Sasuke laughed.

"THIS IS AN OUTRAGE!" Naruto continued. He looked around suspiciously.

"What is it?" asked Sakura-chan.

Naruto motioned for her to come closer.

"What?" Sakura-chan asked.

"I see perverts everywhere," he whispered.

Sakura-chan punched him. "Shut up, Naruto!" she said and Sasuke just cracked up again.

Naruto glared at him. Why was it he was so emotionless all the time, but when Naruto was in pain he was all giggles? It wasn't fair. He was suffering!

"We have to get back to the apartment where it's safe," Naruto decided. He set off and hoped that his friends would follow him.

 **AN: Tada! I tried to add some humor to disguise the verbal and physical abuse. Did it work? Please don't hate me.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: …hey guys…sorry I went AWOL for 21 days. You have my full permission to chuck blunt objects at me. On a side note, OH MY GOD! UNIVERSAL STUDIOS WAS INCREDIBLE! I LOVED HOGSMEADE AND DIAGON ALLEY! =^_^=**

Sakura had to run to keep up with Naruto who seemed to be trying to break the record for 'fastest speed walking'. He barely waited until Sasuke-kun and she had entered his apartment before slamming and locking the door behind them.

"Ok," Naruto said looking through the hole in the door, "I think we're safe."

"We're not in danger," Sakura said.

"No, Sakura. We're in danger," replied Sasuke in low monotone. "We're in grave peril and only Naruto's door is holing it back."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura scolded. She wanted to punch him for further traumatizing Naruto, but it was _Saskue-kun_. All of her rules and morals seemed to go out the window every time he said something.

Since Sasuke-kun was having too much fun messing with Naruto, Sakura realized she would have to be the voice of reason. "Naruto?" she asked the boy who was still looking through the hole in his door "when can we leave?"

Naruto turned away from the door to face Sakura. He looked horrified. "Never," he answered.

"Never?"

"Never!" Naruto confirmed. He held up one finger as if he was about to lecture the other two genin. "It is far too dangerous out there, so we can't leave. Not tomorrow, not next week, not next year, never! Out there-" Naruto's speech was interrupted by a loud rumble from his stomach. He slowly lowered his stomach and closed is mouth. He scowled at his stomach for a second. "Ok, let's go Ichiraku's," he said simply before opening the door and walking out.

Sakura glanced at Sasuke-kun who just shrugged and followed Naruto. Sakura sighed. She wished he'd follow her like that, but she said nothing and shut the door behind her.

"Naruto," Sakura said catching up to him.

"Hunh?" he asked.

"You're not scared to go out anymore?" she asked carefully. Of course she didn't want Naruto to keep himself locked in his apartment for all eternity, but this was a pretty fast turnaround.

Naruto shook his head. "No, I'll never get to be the Hokage if I sit in my room all day. It better to face reality than hide from it."

"You mean you're hungry."

"Yeah. Pretty much."

Sakura smiled. Naruto was an idiot, but at least he was a likable one. Strange since they were so different. Naruto was always eager and leapt into things without a second thought while she carefully thought everything out before doing anything. Sakura wasn't much of a risk taker, so much so, she'd invented a secret persona in her mind that shouted out her true thoughts. Of course she never told anyone about it though. Sakura wasn't sure if she and Naruto really could be friends, but she was going to give it a shot. She and Ino weren't getting along anymore and Sakura, being an only child, was lonely most of the time.

Sakura was happy to chat with Naruto while they ate dinner even if she didn't act like it. Sakura wasn't quite ready to admit she would willing associate with Naruto, because he seemed to be taboo with most of the village, but she did enjoy scolding him while he stuffed his mouth with ramen.

"Sakura-chaaan!" he complained. "I bought it! I can eat it however I want!"

"We're in public," Sakura said. "Do you have no manners?"

Naruto shrugged. "Teuchi is used to it. I come here all the time."

"How do you pay for that?" Sasuke-kun interjected. "You don't have a job."

Naruto's only response was to giggle.

Sakura turned in her seat at the ramen bar to focus on Sasuke-kun.

"Not hungry?" she asked noticing his untouched bowl of ramen.

He shook his head. "Not really," he said. "I'm not sure how Naruto eats this every day."

Sakura smiled. She knew the feeling. "What would you like to eat instead?" she asked.

Sasuke-kun frowned and considered the question. "I'm not sure," he said after a minute. "I like riceballs," he added.

"Maybe tomorrow we can convince Naruto to try them instead." Sakura suggested. She had a mental image of Naruto with three riceballs stuffed in his mouth and a scowl on his face trying to lecture them on why ramen was still better.

"What is it?" Sasuke-kun asked noticing her smile.

Sakura shook her head. "Nothing. I'm just happy."

A small smile tugged on the corners of Sasuke-kun's lips. Sakura decided that she liked him best when he was smiling. He didn't seems nearly as distant and apathetic as he had been when the two of them had been first assigned to team 7 or even last week. Maybe this teambuilding thing actually was working.

Sakura and Sasuke-kun continued on talking until Naruto finished his meal and, after paying, the three went back to Naruto's apartment. Since it was only about eight thirty, none of them were tired. Sasuke-kun didn't even try to slip away from them, which made Sakura very happy.

"So, there's something we could all do and cross off the list," Naruto said after they'd all gone through what they'd do if one day they became a fish. It was Naruto's idea; not Sakura's. Sasuke-kun had refused it on the grounds that it was impracticable and he'd never have to worry about it.

"And that is?" asked Sakura hoping it wasn't anything dangerous like water skiing on the lake.

"Pillow fight!" Naruto said hopefully.

Sasuke-kun rolled his eyes.

"I could make a clone so that we'd have even teams," Naruto said.

Sakura had never really had a pillow fight before. The only friend she'd had over for a sleepover had been Ino and she'd been more interested in boys, mostly Sasuke-kun, than hitting her friend with a pillow. "Ok," she agreed. "But you don't have to make a clone."

"You too?" Sasuke-kun asked. He sounded betrayed.

Sakura shrugged.

"No way." Sasuke-kun said.

"Act you age," Sakura said. True, the phrase was usually used with someone acting immature, but Sakura was sure it worked both ways.

Sasuke-kun rolled his eyes again. "Fine."

He got up from the couch that he'd been sitting next to Sakura on and went to find a pillow.

Sakura grabbed the pillow on the couch and ran into Naruto's bedroom where Sasuke-kun were. She smiled when she saw Sasuke-kun and swung her pillow at him hitting him in the face.

"Get him, Naruto!" she yelled as Sasuke-kun stumbled back.

Naruto stuck his head in the door. "I will not fight un unarmed man," he said indicating that Sasuke-kun had no pillow with him.

"What kind of ninja are you?" Sakura asked.

"The best kind!" Naruto exclaimed gleefully.

"A bad one," Sasuke-kun answered as well.

"Oh, wait until you get a weapon!" Naruto growled. "You're going down, loser!"

"Oh, _I'm_ the loser?" Sasuke-kun answered. His eyes flashed as he grabbed the pillow from Naruto's bed and launched himself at the other boy. Sakura followed them out of into the living room and the next hour dissolved into shouted insults and happy laughter.

 **AN: yeah, I know not that much happened in this chapter, but don't worry; the vague, meandering thing I call 'the plot' is (sort of) on its way. For anyone wondering how long this story is going to be, I do have answer for you now: Kakashi is going to come back around the 5th day. We're on day 3 now. I'm not sure how many more chapters that translates into, but at least is some kind of frame of reference.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Yeah, you knew it was coming. School has started again. ;_; I miss summer. =^_^=**

"Hurry up, Sasuke! We have to leave!"

"I know!" Sasuke shouted back at Naruto. He was ready. The only thing he was missing was his headband, oh sorry, forehead protector. Sasuke knew he'd had it yesterday. Where was it? He bent down and checked under Naruto's bed again. Just dust.

"Sasuke, seriously, what's taking so long?" Naruto asked coming into his room.

Sasuke crawled out from under the bed hitting his head on it. Ouch. Why did the world hate him?

"I lost my forehead protector," he told Naruto.

Naruto gasped. "But that's what marks you as a ninja of Konoha!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes. "I know."

"It's your free pass for everything!"

"I know."

"You can't do anything without it!"

"You're not helping."

"Do you realize how much you're messing up my list? I've only been able to do a fraction of the activities that I planned." Naruto said annoyed.

"Yeah, that's our biggest concern," said Sasuke sarcastically. "Not, oh I don't know, my missing forehead protector."

Naruto nodded along enthusiastically. Sasuke made a mental note to stop using sarcasm. Naruto seemed to be having trouble grasping the concept.

"Sakura-chaaaan!" Naruto yelled into the next room. "Sasuke lost his headband."

" _Oh, just announce it to the world, would you?"_ Sasuke thought, but he'd learned better than to say it out loud. This was embarrassing. Sasuke was meant to be Mr. Perfect. He didn't like messing up, that's why he worked so hard. Now, he'd gone and pulled a Naruto. No, not even Naruto would lose his forehead protector; he treasured it too much. Doing something as stupid made Sasuke upset. Without it, he feel like an outcast. It was almost as if Konoha was saying "We don't want you here anymore".

Sakura joined the two other genin, and the three began a search to find the missing item.

"I can't find it," Naruto complained after a minute. "Where'd you lose it?"

Sasuke sighed. "If I knew that, it wouldn't be lost."

"Be nice," Sakura said automatically. "Oh, sorry, Sasuke-kun," she quickly added.

Sasuke said it was alright, but he was still grumbling about Naruto's stupidity five minutes later. They'd gone through the entire room and still nothing.

"Ok, stop guys," Sakura said after a while. "It's not here. Let's try to think. Sasuke-kun, when did you last have it?"

Sasuke cast his mind back. He'd needed it to get in when the tree of them went to the movie yesterday. Then they'd gone out to ramen. Had he had it then, No, Sasuke decided. So that meant that he must have taken it home after _Icha Icha Paradise the Movie_ and lost it somewhere.

"I think it's here," Sasuke said.

* * *

"It's not here," Sasuke corrected himself half an hour later.

Naruto wailed behind him on the couch. "But we looked everywhere!"

"Exactly," Sasuke snapped annoyed. "Which means it has to be somewhere else."

He turned back to face Naruto and Sakura. They were both spread out across the couch and looked tired. Of course, Sasuke didn't want his…friends…no that still sounded wrong in his head. Sasuke didn't want what whatever Sakura and Naruto were to him to have to go and try to fix his problems, but he kind of needed the help.

Sakura, being the obsessed fangirl that she was, was instantly alert when she saw him looking at her. Sasuke was reasonable sure that if, one day, he became very unpopular and shunned, at least he's still always have Sakura to count on to be right there, stalking him.

"Ok, you said you had it when we went to the movie theater?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke nodded.

"Did you have it when you left?"

"I think so. I'm not sure. Maybe?"

Sakura sighed. Sasuke had a bad feeling about this. "Does this mean we have to go back?"

"NO!" Naruto screamed jumping off the couch. "We're not going back to where all the perverts are!"

"Didn't you "accept it" or whatever yesterday?" Sasuke asked annoyed.

"Yeah, but I'm not hungry now," Naruto answered.

"But Kakashi-sensei read _Icha Icha_ ," Sakura pointed out. "You'll have to face him when he gets back."

"I will," Naruto assured her. "I just want to ignore it until then."

Sasuke scowled. This was accomplishing nothing. He wasn't going to sit around arguing with Naruto. He'd go alone if he had to. Sasuke started towards the door. He was going to go to the theater and look for it. If it wasn't there, he'd have to try someplace else, but at least this was a start.

"He's leaving again," Sasuke heard Naruto say to Sakura.

"Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked. She sounded worried. Sasuke wondered if she though he was trying to go home again.

Sasuke paused at the door. "Well, are you coming or not?" he asked.

Sakura immediately smiled which made Sasuke feel a little happier. He was finding her presence more and more tolerable the more time he spent with her. He might actually talk to her after Kakashi got back and they started the training again. Of course he'd have to push some stuff around in his schedule, but Sasuke found that he really didn't mind that much.

Naruto was a bit more reluctant to go back than the other two, but he did agree to come along as well, so it was a trio that walked into the movie theater. Sasuke explained their situation to the man selling tickets who, in turn, explained it to the manager. The manager informed them that the theater that they had been in yesterday was currently being cleaned so they could go in and look around if they wanted, but they had to not touch anything.

Naruto the whole time had been looking shiftily around the theater. Sakura smacked him on the head, making him to complain loudly, and told him to stop staring at the people. Naruto grumbled and went off in the direction of the concession stand to buy popcorn.

"He really doesn't grasp the full picture, does he?" Sasuke asked Sakura as they waited for him.

Sakura laughed. "Not really, but he's sweet, Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke rolled his eyes. He didn't see it. Naruto returned a few minutes later and the three went into the theater.

Sasuke walked down the dim isle ways searching everywhere. He hit his head twice more looking under seats. He could hear Sakura and Naruto looking around. He heard, rather than saw, Naruto spill his popcorn all over the floor and curse quietly. It served the idiot right. He should know better to look for stuff with food in his hands, especially if he's been specifically told not to mess anything up.

After searching the entire theater twice, Sasuke had found a lot of chewing gum, spilled popcorn, and someone's dog collar (what the hell?), but not his forehead protector.

"Anything?" he asked Naruto and Sakura.

"I found 200 ryō," Naruto said happily. "And someone's glasses, but no headband," he added.

Sakura shook her head. "Sorry Sasuke-kun. I have failed you. Please forgive me."

"It's fine," Sasuke said. He hoped that Sakura was going to get all emotional over it.

The three genin left the theater and went to the park they'd gone to on their first day, because it seemed to be the place to go to if you were sad. Naruto and Sakura sat down directly on the swings and Sasuke leaned against one of the posts. He didn't mind standing. Swinging was for children anyway. No one said anything for a while. Naruto seemed to be thinking very hard about something. Sasuke hoped it was some sort of plan, but knowing Naruto, it was more likely that he was thinking about what kind of ramen he wanted for lunch that day.

"We could search the house again?" Sakura offered.

Sasuke shook his head. It wasn't there. He was sure. They'd looked to well to miss it.

"I've got it!" Naruto exclaimed suddenly.

"Hn." Sasuke said. "Good job, Naruto." He turned back to Sakura. They had to come up with an idea.

"Hello?" Naruto said impatiently. "I said I've got an idea."

"What is it?" Sasuke snapped.

"I know someone who can help us."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: I'm sorry guys. You probably all hate me now. Between school and work, I haven't had a lot of time, but I'm trying to do better.** **=^_^=**

Iruka loved his job. He loved being a ninja. When, inspired by the third Hokage he'd became a teacher, he wasn't sure if he would like it, but, much to his surprise, he'd loved it. He was happy to teach the new generation of ninjas even if they did annoy him sometimes. He'd also finally found a family along the other chunin and jonin. His job had really given him everything.

It was times like now, that Iruka had to remind himself that.

"Look," he said frustrated to Asuma, "If the Nara boy isn't turning up to practice because he's asleep, there's nothing I can do about it."

"You had him for years!" Asuma protested. "Surely you found a way to keep him motivated."

"I could barely keep him awake," Iruka answered. "My only advice is to tell his mother. She seems to be the only one who can get him to do anything."

Asuma didn't look satisfied with the information, but he said goodbye and started to leave.

"Skikamaru's not a bad kid," Iruka called after him.

Asuma nodded. "Yeah, right. He's a slacker," he paused "but maybe I can get him interested in something." He seemed to think of something and actually did leave this time muttering about board games.

Something caught Iruka's eye. One of the bushes nearby seemed to have eyes and was spying on him. Iruka looked a little closer and made out orange in the green. He smiled softly. One of these days, that boy was going to learn that dressing like a traffic cone wasn't the best way to remain unseen.

"You can come out now, Naruto."

Iruka heard muttering in the bush, and, with a lot of shaking, Naruto emerged followed by Uchiha Sasuke and Haruno Sakura. Iruka frowned at the sight of the other two genin. Now, Naruto alone could be written off as almost normal, but the other two were a surprise. What was Kakashi's team doing all together? Last he'd heard, they weren't getting along very well. It seemed odd that they'd all be hanging out especially since they were technically on a break since Kakashi was on a mission.

"Hey Iruka-sensei!" Naruto called out.

"Hi," Iruka answered still a little unsure of what was going on. "You guys here on business, or did you just come to chat?"

"Sasuke lost his head band," Naruto answered simply.

Sasuke elbowed him in the ribs while hissing something at him. Iruka caight the words "Forehead protector".

"Iruka-sensei," Sakura ignored the squabbling boys and spoke directly to her old teacher. "Can you help us?"

Iruka thought about it. He was finished teacher for today and, for once in long time, he didn't have any meetings with students or parents. Looking for a kid's lost head band wasn't really how he had wanted to spend his afternoon off, but Iruka wasn't really one to refuse Naruto's request. He'd always had a soft spot for the orange prankster of Konoha. It made him happy to know that Naruto thought of him as more of a friend and less of as a teacher. Besides, he knew how much their head band meant to ninja's especially the younger ones.

"Alright, I can help you guys," he said, "But I don't know how helpful I'll be." It wasn't like he had superpowers or something. "Sasuke, where'd you lose it?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He looked exceedingly uncomfortable. "We don't really know for sure-"

"-we lost it in the _Icha Icha_ theater." Naruto cut it.

"Naruto!" Sasuke screamed clearly embarrassed.

"What?" Naruto asked it totally unapologetically. "He needs to know."

Iruka almost gagged. Icha Icha wasn't appropriate for children. He still wasn't happy that Kakashi read it. This knowledge combined with Naruto's "sexy no jujitsu" made him question his favorite student. Iruka wanted to keep Naruto a kid for as long as possible, because nothing good lay in front of him in adult hood. Iruka tried to be the missing father figure in the boy's life as much as possible. He was fairly certain that that meant that he could scold him when we was doing stuff that Iruka didn't approve of. So, that's exactly what he did.

"…I really expected better of you. Especially you, Sakura," Iruka said. She was the only one with parents, a trauma free past, and possibly better morals.

"I'm sorry, Iruka-sensei."

Iruka sighed theatrically. He thought he'd punished the kids enough for now. After all, they technically were adults now. Iruka wasn't sure he'd get used to that.

"Where did you lose your headband in the theater, Sasuke?" he asked.

Sasuke glared at him. "If I knew where I lost my _forehead protector_ , then it wouldn't be lost," he said in his low monotone. Iruka shuddered to think what Sasuke'd become like in his teen years, if he was already this bad as a kid.

"Fine," Iruka said. "Be like that."

He turned to Sakura and Naruto instead.

"Did you check the theater?" he asked

"Yes," answered Sakura.

"I spilled half of my popcorn," Naruto pouted.

Iruka wanted to say that that wasn't the main concern, but he kept his mouth shut. Years of experience with Naruto had taught him it was best to stick to simple sentences with him. So instead he said "Did you check the lost in found?"

"It wasn't there."

"And you're sure it's not at Sasuke's home?"

"He's living with me now."

"Oh," said Iruka surprised. "Well…"

"Temporarily," Sasuke cut in. "I have every intention of leaving when Kakashi comes back."

"It was Kakashi-sensei's idea for us all to get to know each other while he was gone," Sakura explained.

"I see," Iruka said. "So, are you sure the headband isn't at Naruto's house?"

"Yes!" came three annoyed voices.

Iruka made a mental note no to question the three genin about their "searching Naruto's house" skills. It seemed to be a sore subject.

"I'm sorry, guys," Iruka said. "I don't know where it is any more than you do."

Iruka felt his hear constrict a little at the look on Naruto's face. He seemed so genuinely crushed. Iruka wished he could be of more help, but he didn't know where the headband was any more than any other person. It wasn't exactly in his job describtion to find missing headbands.

"I can look for it too Do you want me to come along?," Iruka added.

Sakura shook her head. "That's ok. You're busy. We can find it, right guys?"

Naruto shook his head "no", but, under the glare of his fellow students, he changed his nod to "yes", but he still looked upset. Much more upset than Sasuke for that matter. Then again, the only emotion Sasuke seemed to display anymore was mild annoyance.

"Sasuke," Iruka addressed the Uchiha. "If you can't find it in a few days, tell me and I can put in an order for a new one for you."

He nodded. "Hn"

Naruto's face light up and he clapped Sasuke on the shoulder. "See? It's going to be ok."

"Don't touch me. And I'm not worried. The only person you're trying to convince is yourself."

"I am not!"

"Yes, you are."

"Am not!"

"Oh, it's very touching."

"It is _not_!"

Iruka was about to break the two boys apart, but Sakura got to it first.

"SHUT UP, BOTH OF YOU!" she yelled punching Naruto who immediacy cowered.

"Sakura-chaaaann!" he whined.

Iruka was, yet again, surprised. Sakura had always been such a well-mannered girl, shy even. He knew for a fact that she had a crush on Sasuke which had been very annoying to deal with in a classroom because everything had been Sasuke this and Sasuke that. Sasuke, himself, had ignored the whole matter. Now, seeing Sakura stand on her own two feet, unsettled as well as relived Iruka.

He looked back at Naruto who was now actually apologizing, albeit grudging to Sasuke, and as Iruka watched in disbelief, the moody, vengeance-driven, Sasuke apologized as well.

Iruka was sure that he'd fallen asleep and dreamed it all at first, but it seemed to be real. That was it. He was never going to question Kakashi's teaching methods ever again. This teambuilding thig actually seemed to be working. Who knew that forcing people to spend time together actually made them like each other?

"Thanks for the help, Iruka-sensei," Sakura said sweetly. She smiled and pulled at Sasuke's shirt. Sasuke immediately pulled it out of her grasp, making her pout, and set off down the street.

"You want to go for ramen?" Naruto asked hopefully.

Iruka smile and shook his head. "Maybe another time, Naruto. You should spend some time with your teammates. You should get to know them better."

"I already know everything about them. Like Sakura-chan brushes her teeth twice at night and Sasuke-"Naruto was abruptly cut off by Sasuke clamping his hand over Naruto's mouth.

"Okay, we're going now," he said quickly steering Naruto away.

Iruka couldn't help but smiling as he watched the three walk away. They were goofy little kids right now, but he had the feeling that if they were as good at training as they were with each other, they'd all become great ninjas one day.

 **AN: I know it feels long, but I intend to finish the arc (is this an arc?) of the missing headband up in the next chapter, which I swear will not take two and a half weeks to write.**


	16. Chapter 16

**AN: Hey guys. I think this is my longest chapter to date. *Checks other chapters* Yep. Longest chapter yet. I hope you like it. =^_^=**

This day wasn't turning out as well as the other ones Sakura mused as she and her friends set off back to Naruto's house for lunch. Sasuke-kun looked even more annoyed than usual, and Naruto's ever present grin was nowhere to be seen. Sakura knew that she, herself, must look upset as well. Her legs were tired from walking around all day and her long hair kept falling in her eyes. She blew at a strand of it only to have it come back to the exact same place a second later. Sakura glared at the stray hair. It was annoying her, so she took a clip out of her pocket and put her hair in a ponytail. She felt slightly better. So what if it showed off her big forehead? Having a big forehead suggested intellect.

Naruto unlocked the apartment and took off his shoes before flopping down on the couch.

"You tired?" Sakura asked.

"Is that even possible?" Sasuke wondered.

Naruto shrugged. "Not tired. More bored, I guess."

Sasuke-kun grabbed Naruto's legs and, despite his protests, pushed them off the couch so that he could sit down.

Sakura looked at the two of them. They might be polar opposites about some things, but in this moment, they could have been brothers. Sakura felt strangely isolated. It wasn't fair. Why was she always left out?

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. "You look sad."

Sakura shrugged. "Just thinking," she said.

"About Sasuke's headband?" Naruto asked. "That's good; I'm all out of ideas. You're the brains of this operation anyway."

Sakura smiled. At least Naruto liked her. He might not be the best friend she'd envisioned, but the more time she spent with him, the more Sakura was willing to call him that. Of course, her heart still belonged to Sasuke-kun though.

"If Sakura's the brains, what am I?" Sasuke-kun asked.

Naruto tilted his head in consideration. "The jerk," he finally decided.

Sasuke-kun just glared at him.

"What are you, then?" Sakura asked annoyed. She liked Naruto, but that friendship didn't extend to insulting her crush.

"The Hokage!"

"Not yet, you're not. Pick a different one."

"The muscle."

Sasuke-kun seemed to have a coughing fit from his spot on the couch. "I'm sorry," he wheezed. "I must have heard that wrong. I could have sworn I just heard you say that you were the muscle."

Naruto scowled. "What's wrong with that?"

"It's not even close."

"Yes, it is!"

"You're delusional."

"I think 'The Comic Relief' is a better title for you," Sakura suggested.

Naruto pouted, but Sakura refused to call him anything else. He made her laugh, and even Sasuke-kun smile a couple times. Besides, he was a prankster. What other title could he expect to get?

"Well, it doesn't really matter," Sakura said after a few moments of protesting. "It's not like any of us are going to get titles or something."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed.

"So, what's the plan for this afternoon?" Sasuke-kun asked.

Naruto shrugged. "I don't know."

Sakura blinked in surprise. "How can you not know? What happened to your list?"

"I threw it out," Naruto answered.

"Why?"

"Because it was selfish. Those were things that I wanted to do. I want you guys to pick something that you want to do." Naruto paused for a minute. "And because we were doing a really bad job of following it."

"Who are you, and what have you done with Naruto?" Sakura asked. She hadn't thought that Naruto was capable of that level of maturity.

Naruto just grinned. "So, what do you want to do today?"

"Go to the store," Sasuke-kun interrupted. "All you have is ramen."

Naruto pouted, but he didn't disagree.

"Thank you," Sakura said to Sasuke-kun as they left.

"For what?"

Sakura smiled. "I've been stuck eating nothing but Ramen and cereal for the last few days." She hadn't really wanted to say anything, being a guest and all, but it had been driving her mad, not to mention craving vegetables. It had horrified her at first. What kind of self-respecting kid wanted to eat vegetables? Sakura decided that when vegetables started to sound good, it was time to eat something else ASAP.

Sasuke-kun smiled a little too. "Yeah, no problem."

"Are you still upset about your forehead protector?" Sakura asked.

Sasuke-kun frowned. "I'm not really that upset. Yeah, it sucks that it's lost, but I'm not going to freak out. Iruka says he can get me one in a few days if I can't find it, so there's really no reason to panic."

"But it won't be _your_ headband," Sakura said. She wouldn't feel the same if she'd lost her headband.

"I really don't care. It's not like a formed an emotional connection with it," Sasuke-kun said casually. Sakura thought that, although he tried hard not to show it, there was some regret in his voice.

"I'm sure we can still find it," she reassured.

"We've looked everywhere. It's gone. Like I said, I really don't care."

Sakura sighed. She wished she knew some way to make Sasuke-kun feel better. Before she could think of anything, the three genin arrived at the grocery store. It wasn't very busy this time of day, and the only people Sakura saw where three little kids playing outside of it.

Naruto grabbed a basket and immediately headed off towards the instant ramen isle. Sakura, noticing what he was doing, grabbed the back of his t-shirt and pulled him back.

"We've got plenty of ramen," she told him.

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto protested, but Sakura refused to give in.

"No!" she said shaking her head. "Buy something else."

Naruto wandered off towards the frozen food isle.

"I hope he's not buying frozen ramen," Sasuke-kun said quietly from behind Sakura.

"Do they have frozen ramen?" Sakura asked horrified.

Sasuke-kun shrugged. "No idea."

Sakura took a basket and set off picking out everything that she thought that Naruto needed. After realizing that that was very impractical, not to mention expensive, Sakura focused on food that they could eat for lunch and dinner that day.

After a few minutes, Sakura realized that Sasuke-kun had left her. She doubled back to find him starting wistfully at a box of tomatoes.

"Hey," She said coming up to stand next to him. "Whatcha doing?"

Sasuke-kun seemed to shake himself. "Nothing."

Sakura frowned. She could sense he was hiding something. Something important. This was somehow big for him. Before, she could ask him about it, Sasuke-kun abruptly left.

Sakura glanced at him, wanting to follow him, before looking back at the tomatoes. After a moment of consideration, she picked one up and put it in her basket.

Her shopping done, Sakura went to find Naruto so that they could pay and leave.

"Ready to leave?" she asked him when she finally found him. "What did you get?"

"Oh, popsicles," Sakura said in an overly polite tone when he showed her. She was glad that she'd gotten some actual food. "Very nice contribution."

Naruto beamed at her, and Sakura wondered if his earlier maturity had been a fluke. She sent him back to find Sasuke-kun while she paid for the food.

A few minutes later, all three of them walked out of the store carrying bags. Sakura and Sasuke-kun had walked a few steps before realizing Naruto was missing.

"Damn it. Where'd that idiot go?" Sasuke-kun said glancing around.

Sakura looked until she spotted him standing next to the kids from before. His bag was on the floor the food spilling everywhere, but he hadn't seemed to notice.

"There he is," She said pointing. She let out a small sound of annoyance before walking as quickly across the lot as she could without spilling anything.

"Naruto," she said when she got to him. "What's going on?"

Naruto smiled. "I'm just keeping up with my rival here."

Sakura looked at the little kid. He couldn't be more than eight years old and his long scarf made him seem even smaller. Sakura began to seriously question Naruto's rivals. At least Sasuke-kun was the same age as him.

"This is Konohamaru," Naruto said introducing him. "Konohamaru, this is Sakura and that's Sasuke over there."

"Hi," said Sakura still a little confused why Naruto was hanging out with such a little kid. "What are you guys doing?"

"Training to become the Hokage."

Sakura rolled her eyes. Now the rival thing made sense to her. Of course this kid wanted to be the Hokage too. Why else would Naruto name him as his rival?

"See?" Said Konohamaru pulling something out of his pocket. "I'm already a genin. I'm going to be a chunin soon."

He showed the headband in his hands to Naruto. Naruto gaped at it for a second. "How it that possible?" he asked. "No one can move up that fast. There hasn't even been a graduation ceremony yet."

Konohamaru just grinned. "Guess I'm better than you though, huh?"

Sakura took a closer look at the headband. It seemed strangely familiar to her.

"Where'd you get this?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's mine," he said defensively.

Sakura shook her head. "I don't think so."

Konohamaru glared at her. "I'll right. I found it, but it's still mine."

"Where?" Sasuke-kun demanded suddenly interested.

"In a theater, alright?" Konohamaru confessed.

Sakura wanted to question what a child so small had been doing in the theater in the first place. She was sure it had something to do with Naruto. He was corrupting the youth of Konoha while someohow remaining innocent himself. Hmm, maybe her parents were right to never let her play with him when she was younger. Who knew how corrupted she could have become?

Sakura saw Sasuke-kun tense up. "That's mine," he said menacingly.

"Prove it," said Konohamaru.

Surprisingly enough, it was Naruto who answered. "Konohamaru, it's not the headband that makes you a ninja; it's the training. It's all the hard work and hours of studying that you put in. That's what makes you a ninja. There are going to be days when you wonder if you can even do it, but when you accomplish something new, it's worth it. That's what makes you a ninja. Once you become one, you're one forever. Even if you leave Konoha, you'll always be a ninja," Naruto said. It was the most serious Sakura had ever seen him. "That headband doesn't prove anything. Give it back. It's not yours."

Konohamaru frowned. "But I want to be a ninja now."

"I'm sorry, but there's no quick fix for it. You just have to train. You'll get there soon."

Konohamaru considered that for a long moment. Finally, very slowly, he nodded. He walked over to Sasuke-kun and handed the piece of metal and cloth back.

Sasuke-kun looked a little surprised, but he pocketed his headband.

Sakura looked at him meaningfully.

" _What?"_ his eyes seemed to say.

" _Say thank you,"_ Sakura told him silently with her eyes.

" _Do I have to?"_

" _Just do it,"_

"Thank you, Konohamaru," Sasuke-kun said.

He glanced back at Sakura. She nodded.

Naruto said goodbye to Konohamaru and his friends and picked up his bag.

"I didn't know you were so smart," Sakura said to him as they set off back to Naruto's house all in considerably better spirits.

Naruto shrugged. "That's just what I think. Now, let's hurry and get home before the popsicles melt."

 **AN: And now Sasuke has his headband back. I'm not sure if Sakura and Sasuke met Konohamaru before the chunin exams, but it makes sense that they would have at least seen him around the town. If not, whoops. It looks like my story's an AU now.**


	17. Chapter 17

**AN: So, um I'm not sure if you know, but** _ **Mangus Chase and the Sword of**_ **Summer is out, and it's so good. Read it! Actually, read Percy Jackson and the Olympians, the Heroes of Olympus, and** _ **then**_ **read it. The Cane Chronicles are optional, because they haven't been mentioned in the** _ **Sword of Summer**_ **(yet at least). Ok, I'm done now. Back to Naruto! =^_^=**

Sasuke, Naruto, and Sakura happily ate the popsicles that Naruto had bought for lunch. Now that he had his forehead protector back, Sasuke was in a much better mood. He watched Naruto laugh at something Sakura had just said and smiled. He wasn't really following the conversation, but he didn't need to. Just being with his friends made him happy.

" _Strange,"_ he thought. He'd given up on happiness a long time ago. Maybe, all along, all he had had to do was create his own entertainment. An idea came to him.

"Do you know what we should do?" he asked suddenly.

Naruto shook his head. "What?"

"Prank Kakashi."

"Sasuke-kun! Kakashi-sensei is our teacher!" Sakura scolded.

"Yeah, he's a crappy teacher. He's been gone for, what is it? Five days now?"

"He had a mission though."

"For five days?"

Naruto shrugged. He had a sly smile on his face. "No idea, but I like this idea! Ooh! Ooh!" he bounced him his seat for a second while making seizure like movement with his hands around.

" _Spaz,"_ Sasuke thought.

"I wanna make a paper doll chain out of his books!"

Sakura punched him. "You will do no such thing! He'd kill you!"

"A what?" Sasuke asked confused.

"You know, a paper doll chain."

"Why did you think saying it twice would make me understand."

"It's like a chain of paper where all the little dolls hold hands and you can draw faces on them and stuff," Naruto explained.

"That's literally the dumbest thing I've ever heard, and I've been living with you for the last week," Sasuke said.

Naruto just slurped on his popsicle more.

"You're not doing that," Sakura.

"Why not?" Sasuke asked. "You had no problem pranking me a few days ago. About stopped my heart, I can tell you."

Naruto giggled.

Sasuke glared at him. "That's not funny—" he began, but he was interrupted by a puff of white smoke.

"Funny now, Sasuke-kun?" Naruko asked. She winked at him and giggled.

"You change back right now!" Sasuke yelled. He could feel his face turning red. He was not going to relive that again. It had officially made his top 10 list of instances he never wanted think about.

Naruko whined for a second, but, grudgingly turned back into Naruto via reverse sexy no juitsu.

"That was fun," he said.

"It was not," Sasuke said. "I said prank Kakashi, not me."

Naruto turned his big pleading eyes on Sakura. "Please? Just a little?"

Sakura shifted a bit in her chair. She looked from Naruto to Sasuke.

"It'll be fun," Sasuke said. "And you know how much I love fun," he added dryly.

"You hate fun," Sakura said. "You just want to get back at Kakashi-sensei for making him hang out with us for a week."

Sasuke considered that for a second. "Yeah, that too."

Sakura sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'm in."

"Awesome!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura held up a finger. "One condition," she said in a warning tone. "No cutting up his books. That's just mean."

"Ok," Naruto said happily. "I need a bucket." He got up and started poking around in his closet.

Sasuke had a sinking feeling that this had been a very, very bad idea. "Why do you need a bucket?" he asked overly cautiously.

"I need to catch some fish," Naruto answered like it should be obvious.

Sasuke gulped. He hoped that they weren't going to be on the menu for tonight's dinner.

"Why?" he asked Naruto.

"So I can put them in Kakashi-sensei's sink," Naruto said gleefully. He thought about it for a second. "And maybe his tub. Does he have a tub or just a shower? Or does he go to bathhouses and ruin the water for everyone else? That seems like something he'd do."

Sasuke shrugged.

"Well, he definitely has a sink!" Naruto decided.

He finally found a bucket.

"You stay here and plan more stuff!" he yelled slapping his shoes on his feet. "I'll be back in, like, 15 minutes!" Before either of his friends could say anything, he slammed out the door.

Sasuke blinked at the door as if expecting Naruto to come back. When he didn't, he turned to Sakura.

"That was a bad idea."

"Yeah, that was a bad idea," she answered quickly.

There was an awkward silence between them. The room felt so empty without Naruto's energy. Sasuke could almost hear his thoughts they sounded so loud in his head. He tried to think of prank ideas, but then quickly realized he had absolutely no ideas. Um…yeah. Nothing.

"You got any ideas?" He finally gave up and asked Sakura.

She shrugged. "I'm sure I'll think of something, but that's not what I'm really interested in, Sasuke-kun."

Oh, right. She had a crush on him. Sasuke had almost forgotten, but now he was painfully aware of it.

"Um…" he said nervously rubbing the back of his neck.

"I actually want to know about this," Sakura said walking over to the bag of groceries that they'd left out on the table. She opened it and pulled out a tomato.

Sasuke felt his stomach drop. On one hand, he was relieved that he wouldn't have to reject Sakura's pleas for love again, but, on the other hand, if she'd found out about the whole tomato thing, he had a much bigger problem.

"I thought you liked tomatoes," Sakura said holding it out him.

"I do," Sasuke said his voice tight. He didn't really want to talk about it.

Sakura's eyebrows creased together and her mouth turned down slightly. "I thought you trusted me," she said in a small voice. She looked down sadly.

Sasuke's heart fluttered in his chest. "I do," he said again.

"Then why won't you tell me?" Sakura said. She sounded hurt.

"I can't," Sasuke said. It was too painful for him. The red fruit reminded him of how things used to be and how happy he'd been. Then, _that night_ , his life had wrecked beyond repair. Everything he'd loved had been taken from him: his mom, his dad, his brother, all of his family. Seeing a remnant from those days just made Sasuke think. When he thought, he remembered. When he remembered he fell apart. He'd spent countless days crying himself to sleep in the empty house. He'd trained to the point of collapse. It wasn't something he really wanted to share, even with his friends. Sakura had to stay out of his life. She needed to drop it, or Sasuke would blow up and yell.

Sakura frowned at him. "I can't help you if you keep shutting me out," she said.

Sasuke bristled at him. Why did everyone treat him like a basket case? He was fine. "Did it ever occur to you that I don't need your help?" Sasuke whispered angrily. He voice increased steadily with every word until he was yelling. "I'm not broken. I don't need to be fixed, so stop trying! I leave everybody alone! I don't even stay in the main part of Konoha! I don't bother you, so just leave me the hell alone!"

Sasuke saw Sakura shrink back in fear. He'd never blown up at her like this before. He knew it wasn't really her fault; she really was just trying to help him, but he didn't need it. He was tired of being nice and just had to yell for a bit.

"Sasuke-kun…" Sakura said, but he ignored her.

"I'm leaving. I'll be back later."

Sasuke grabbed his shoes, half hoping that Sakura would stop him. At this point, he wasn't sure what he wanted. All he knew was that this wasn't working. Maybe a walk would clear his head.

He opened the door, and glanced behind him. Sakura was still there. She hadn't moved.

" _Fine,"_ Sasuke thought. _"I don't want to talk to you either."_

He walked out of the room and slammed the door behind him.

 **AN: Aaaand character regression. Come on, Sasuke! You were doing so well!**


	18. Chapter 18

**AN: I'm sorry guys. I'm a bad author… Would saying that I'm building automail for Halloween and editing a different story so you'll something to read while I do NaNoWriMo (not** _ **Naruto**_ **. How do you guys feel about** _ **Death Note**_ **?) help? No? Ok, then =^_^=**

" _Why does water weigh so much?"_ Naruto thought as he lugged the bucket full of water and one tiny fish back to his apartment. It was a miserable effort at a prank, but Naruto was done trying. He'd been out, splashing around, chasing fish with minimal success. He was incredible wet from slopping water over himself as he dragged the bucket. Naruto doubted that he could have gotten wetter if he's actually jumped the lake.

Still, he was extremely proud of his fish. He giggled as he thought of the look Kakashi-sensei would have on his face when he got home.

Naruto made his way to the apartment and walked in leaving a trail of lake water in his wake.

"I'm back!" he called out when he saw the room was deserted. "Hey! Sakura-chan? Sasuke? Where are you guys?"

Naruto set the bucket down by the door and continued on into the empty house. Where was everyone?

"Hello?" he called more impatiently this time. He glared suspiciously around the room. He wondered if he was being pranked.

Naruto strained his ears, checking for any out of place sounds, and heard something in his room. He opened the carefully door (after checking for traps) to find Sakura-chan sitting on his bed. Her shoulders shook, and occasionally a quiet sob escaped her lips.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked. What had happened? He'd only left half an hour ago! Why did things fall apart when he was gone?

Sakura-chan jumped at his voice. She turned around to face him, and Naruto noticed two things. One: her bangs covered her forehead again. Two: she'd been crying.

She smiled when she saw him. "Oh, hi, Naruto," she said trying to wipe her eyes without him noticing. "How are the plans going?"

"Oh, great!" Naruto said distracted. "Sakura-chan, look! I caught a fish! And I was thinking, now I have a big bucket full of water so I thought—wait!" he stopped himself. "You're upset."

Sakura-chan shook her head. "I'm fine."

Naruto narrowed his eyes. A certain person seemed to be missing. He had a sudden sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. "Where's Sasuke?" he asked in a low growl.

Sakura bit her lip. "It's not his fault."

But that was all Naruto needed to hear. Of course it was Sasuke's fault! It was always his fault! Anger threatened to engulf Naruto and he had a strong desire to punch something.

"Where is he!" he demanded.

"Naruto, don't—"

"Where!"

Sakura-chan stood up and faced Naruto. "I said don't!" she yelled. "Leave him alone!"

Naruto blinked his anger melting away.

Sakura-chan sighed and sat back down, face in her hands. "I'm sorry. I don't want to fight anymore. I just want him to stay…"

Naruto sat next to her and put a hand on her back. _"Strange,"_ he thought. A week ago, he'd never have done that. He'd either have been too embarrassed to let Sakura know he cared and just hung back awkwardly in the doorway, or he'd just have used it as an opportunity to get her to kiss him. Now, he didn't care. Sakura-chan was his friend, and she was sad, so Naruto did what any good friend would have done. He comforted her.

"It's ok," he said as he patted he back. "I'll go get him."

"You won't hurt him?" Sakura-chan asked timidly.

"I want to, but no," Naruto said. "I promise."

Sakura-chan smiled at that. "Thank you, Naruto."

Naruto stood up. "Ok, I'll be right back with Sasuke."

"Where are you going?"

"The park."

"Why do you think he's there?"

"Because the park is where everyone goes when they're sad."

Sakura-chan laughed. "Seems legit."

Naruto gave her the extra popsicle, because she looked like she needed it, and made sure she was ok before heading out again.

Sure enough, Naruto made out dark hair and a blue t-shirt long before he's reached the park. Sasuke was sitting on a swing, but he wasn't moving. Naruto snuck up on him and jumped up onto the swing next to him so that he was standing on the seat.

Sasuke about jumped off the swing. "Jeez, say something next time. How'd you get so quite?"

Naruto grinned a lopsided grin and started to swing. "I'm a ninja."

Sasuke just scowled.

"Oh, come on; you had to see that one coming," Naruto said.

"I know why you're here," Sasuke said after a moment of silence. "You're here to tell me to be nice to Sakura and come back so I can live with you, and do more stupid stuff. There's no point to it." His eyes swiveled to look up at Naruto. "Really? What was the point of this week? Was there a point? Was it just a waste of time?"

Naruto shook his head. Sasuke had it all wrong. "No, it wasn't a waste of time," he said.

Sasuke frowned. "But we didn't do anything. I didn't learn anything."

"Really? I did. I learned I can't get drunk. Sakura brushes her teeth twice before she goes to bed. You are the only one of us who can do a proper handstand. You get embarrassed easily. Sakura loves pranks too. I need more in my fridge than ramen if I want my friends to eat. Komohamaru's a thief. Kakashi-sensei's reading habits are questionable at best. I learned that friends will help you when you've got a problem, even if they don't get along all the time." Naruto glanced at Sasuke meaningfully. "I learned that you can't just expect people to like you. You have to make an effort. I learned that people are fragile and break, just like everything else." An idea came to Naruto's head. "You broke, didn't you?" Naruto asked. It was a guess, but Naruto hoped he was right. He'd really look like an idiot if he was wrong.

Sasuke stiffened and then slowly nodded.

" _I'm a freaking genius!"_ Naruto thought. _"Maybe I can be the Hokage AND a physiatrist."_

"I didn't want to tell her," Sasuke said. "I didn't want to think about it."

Naruto had no idea what he was talking about, but he tried his best to help. He stopped swinging and sat down like a normal person so he and Sasuke were at eye level with each other.

"Did you tell her that?" he asked.

Sasuke looked confused. "Tell her what?"

"Tell her that it hurt you and you didn't want it to hurt her too?"

" _I'm grasping at straws here,"_ he thought.

Sasuke shook his head. "I just kind of yelled at her. I was just tired of everyone treating me like I'm made out of glass, you know?"

"Um, no," Naruto said. "I don't know. I'm not exactly popular around here. No one cares about my feelings, except Iruka-sensei. Do you realize that no one's ever even asked me if I have enough money to pay rent?"

"I assumed that the Hokage paid for your apartment."

Naruto waved him off. "He did, but that's not the point. Most people couldn't care less if I just died."

He said it simply. It was a fact. He didn't really care. Ok, so maybe he did, but he'd accepted it. Besides, he had four friends: Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, and Sasuke. And Kiba liked him too, even if his mom wouldn't let him come over. All things considered, he could have been worse off.

He smiled hopefully at Sasuke. "So, I promised Sakura-chan I'd bring you back. I'd hate to break that promise."

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "So you're here to drag me back?"

Naruto sighed. This was the second time this week. Seventh if you counted all those times he threated to leave, but didn't actually do it. "Always."

 **AN: Angst, angst everywhere. Next chapter will be happier.**


	19. Chapter 19

**AN: Attention everyone: This fic is ending in approximately two more chapters (including this one). Please gather your bags and hold onto the handrails until the fic comes to a complete stop. =^_^=**

Sakura was nervously waiting on the couch with a book in her hands, but she wasn't reading it. She heard the door click open and eagerly set it down next to her, hoping Sasuke-kun would walk through the door.

Naruto's head stuck its way in the door, winked at her, and disappeared for a second. It was replaced by a different face. This one not nearly as happy as the first.

"Tada!" Naruto announced loudly as Sasuke-kun half walked/was half shoved through the door.

Sasuke-kun glared at Naruto and muttered something along the lines of "Why did I agree to this?"

Sakura's heart fluttered in her chest as she stood up. He'd really come back! He was grumpy, but Sasuke was grumpy about everything, so it didn't really matter.

"Hello," Sasuke-kun said suddenly very interested in his feet. Sakura would have been mad, but she found his embarrassment extremely cute, so she just smiled.

"Ooh, Sasuke," Naruto interrupted Sakura's thoughts. "Did you see my fish?"

"I just got here."

"See?" Naruto said pointing at the bucket next to the door.

Sasuke-kun looked, and Sakura came over too just to see his reaction.

He glanced at Sakura. "He's proud of this?"

She nodded.

"That's pathetic."

"You try catching fish with a bucket," Naruto pouted. "It's hard."

"Why didn't you use a net or a fishing rod or something?" Sakura asked.

Naruto didn't have an answer.

"So, that's the big prank?" Sasuke asked. "Put a minuscule fish in his sink?"

Naruto looked horrified. "No! That's just one of many, many things I've got planned. I'm going to tape his books to the celling for starters. He won't be able to find them no matter how hard he looks, because they'll be on the celling!" he giggled.

There was a slapping sound. Sakura glance at Sasuke-kun who had his face hidden in his hand.

"Did you get him drunk?" she whispered to him.

Sasuke shook his head. "Apparently, that's not possible."

"I'm also going to replace his sugar with salt and paint his soap," Naruto continued apparently unfazed. Sakura stopped listening after a few more ideas and just let Naruto ramble. She focused on Sasuke-kun. He was carefully looking any direction other than Sakura. Sakura realized he still wasn't going to talk to her, beyond small talk. It made her sad, because she'd been doing so well up until this point. So well, in fact, that she dared hope that Sasuke-kun would finally start to fall for her. Now, Sakura doubted that it would happen any time soon. Of course, it would happen eventually, because true love conquers all, but it might be a while.

Sakura sighed inwardly and put the matter away for now. She turned her attention back to Naruto who had seemed to have finished his list of ideas and was now trying to catch his fish in a cup.

"See?" Naruto explained as he set the glass with the fish in it on his counter. "Now I have a bucket of water."

"This is true," Sasuke-kun confirmed. "Why do you need it?"

Naruto giggled. "You know when we first met Kakashi-sensei?"

Sakura nodded. After waiting for hours for him to show up, Naruto had gotten bored and set a calk eraser in the door so when their teacher opened it, it would fall on his head. Kakashi-sensei, strangely, had fallen for this and wound up with dust in his already white hair, much to his distaste and Naruto's delight.

Sakura eyes the bucket of lake water by Naruto's feet. She had a sudden sinking feeling. "Oh, no."

"Oh, yes!" Naruto exclaimed. "I'm going to balance it on his door so it'll spray on his head!"

"You're going to use a rope, right?" Sakura asked.

Naruto looked confused. "Why?" he asked.

"So it won't hit him on the head and knock him out," Sasuke-kun explained.

Naruto still didn't look like he got it. "That won't happen."

"Yes, it will," Sasuke-kun countered.

"No it won't."

"Yes."

"No!"

"Prove it."

"Huh?"

"Prove that it works."

"Guys," Sakura cut in. "It won't work without a rope."

But she was too late. Naruto had already gone to his door and set up the bucket so it balanced over the door.

"I'm doing it, but you're going to have to get me more water, Sasuke."

Sasuke-kun shrugged. "Hn."

Naruto must have taken that as a yes.

"Naruto—" Sakura started taking a step forward, but she was cut off as Naruto opened the door.

The bucket promptly fell on his head.

There was a sickening crack and Naruto fell to the ground.

Sakura rushed over to his side. Sasuke-kun only looked vaguely interested.

"I knew that would happen," he said quietly as Sakura checked Naruto for signs of life.

"I think he's going to be ok," she said after finding his pulse was steady. "He just knocked himself out."

Sasuke-kun nodded. "Of course, he's got a nice thick skull."

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura scolded. She cocked her head and stared at the boy who claimed to be the best ninja is the class. A lump was already forming on his head.

"We should move him," she said.

Sakura picked up Naruto and slung him over her shoulder. She set him down on the couch in the next room. He looked a little better.

Sakura turned back to Sasuke-kun. His mouth was slightly open and he looked dumbstruck. "How'd you…" he trailed off, looking back at Naruto as if he expected him to vanish. "You just…you're… so strong."

Sakura blushed. She'd completely forgotten that Sasuke-kun didn't know about her monster strength. She always tried to hide if from people. Saying you could pick up your potential boyfriend, and hurl him through a wall if you wanted to, wasn't generally seen as very cute. Sakura had been desperate to fit in, but seeing her friend laying on the ground had made her forget and just want to help him. She hadn't even thought about Sasuke noticing it.

"Is that ok?" she asked nervously.

Sasuke nodded. "That's more than "okay". Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

Sakura shrugged. "I guess I thought that you just wouldn't like it."

"There seem to be a lot of rumors circulating around what and who I like."

"Well, we all have our secrets, don't we Sasuke-kun?" Sakura asked.

This time, it was Sasuke-kun's turn to blush.

"It's ok if you don't want to tell me," she said. "It's hard for you. I think I understand that. But, just know, if you ever want to talk to me, I'll listen."

"Sakura…" Sasuke-kun started, but he didn't seem to know what to say next. "Thank you," he finally managed.

Sakura instantly felt better. Maybe Sasuke-kun wasn't ready to share his life story now, but at least he knew that she cared. He liked that she cared. Maybe he liked her.

" _One step at a time,"_ Sakura told her fluttering heart. She was happy to just be friends with Sasuke for now. And Naruto, even if he was incredibly dumb at times.

Sakura turned her attention back to Naruto. He had stared to move on the couch and was now making an injured sort of groan.

"Ow," he complained blinking his eyes.

Sakura rushed over to his side. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Sasuke-kun take a few steps closer too.

"Ok, maybe I do need a rope," Naruto admitted.

Sakura laughed at that.

Naruto sat up and immediately jumped off the couch. He seemed totally unaffected to Sakura. He actually looked a little better than he had ten minutes ago. Sakura wondered if unconsciousness was similar to a nap for him.

"You owe me more water, Sasuke," he said shoving the empty bucket in the other genin's hands. "I'm going to get a rope and the rest of my stuff. Let's go before it gets dark!" he ran off into his room.

A few seconds later he stuck his head through his door. There was a paintbrush behind his ear. "Sakura-chan, do you have a parrot?"

"Um, no," she said.

Naruto frowned. "No parrot," he mumbled. "That's ok. I'll think of something else."

"You made him really happy," Sakura told Sasuke-kun after Naruto had left again.

He shrugged. "I thought I might as well try it since I'm stuck here anyway."

Sakura smiled.

A few minutes later, the three of them were ready. Naruto hadn't been able to carry off his stuff himself, so he'd enlisted his friends as lesser pranksters. Sakura was sure she was going to drop something, but she was also was incredibly excited.

They set off in the direction of Kakashi-sensei's house. Naruto seemed to be bouncing rather than walking. His mouth was going a million miles a minute as he chattered on about everything he planned to do.

"…So after we paint his towels, I was thinking we should we should lay out the marbles. Or should we do that last so that we don't trip? This is going to be great! I can't wait until we see the look on Kakashi-sensei's face. We should hide somewhere so we can get his reaction. Ooh, this is going to be so great! Smile, Sasuke! Bigger. Now, that's just creepy. Look, Sakura-chan: Sasuke has emotions. See, that one's happy. Oh, that's one's angry. Ow, stop it! Stop it! Sakura-chan? Sakura-chan, are you excited?"

Sakura nodded emphatically.

"We're here," said Sasuke-kun, rather unnecessarily, as the three approached Kakashi-sensei's house. They crowed around his door and, after a great deal of shushing on Sasuke's part, and a lot of being shushed on Naruto's part, Sakura put out her hand to try the handle.

" _What if it's locked?"_ she wondered for a spit second. The next second, the door swung open.

Sakura felt the butterflies form in her stomach. She looked back to Naruto and Sasuke-kun. "You ready?" she asked.

"I was born ready," Naruto whispered excitedly.

"Hn," Sasuke-kun confirmed.

"You ready?" Naruto asked.

Sakura took a deep breath, and discovered that she truly was. This was the fun she'd been looking for for so long. "Definitely," she said.

She swung the door open and walked in.

 **AN: Almost done, guys. I hope the end's not too obvious. I hope you enjoy the last chapter.**

 **Edit: I realize that Sasuke's been an idiot for the last few chapters. He was in the wrong to yell at Sakura, but he doesn't want to admit it, and Sakura forgave him anyway because that's just what Sakura does. I'm not going to resolve this issue, because it's a main one throughout the series and if I changed it now, the whole story of Naruto wouldn't work. Yes, it annoys me too.**


	20. Chapter 20

**AN: Here it is: the end. Writing this story has made me so happy over the months. =^_^=**

Kakashi sensed rather than heard his door open. He narrowed his eyes and stood up from his chair in the living room. He didn't bother putting down his book; he took it everywhere.

" _This had better be important,"_ he thought as he walked the few the few steps to his door. He was tired after his mission, and just wanted to read his book in peace and quiet. Was that really too much to ask?

Kakashi rounded the corner and was shocked at what he saw.

The rest of team 7 stood frozen in the doorway, Sakura in front. Right behind her, stood Naruto and behind him, Sasuke. All of them were carrying various... _things_. That was all really Kakashi could describe them as. Among the things were a bucket of water (did it have a fish in it?) a kite, a paint can, several toy frogs, a half-eaten box of pocky, a kunai, and several yards of tape and yarn. All three of his students had incredibly guilty looks on their faces.

"Um…we can explain, Kakashi-sensei—" Sakura started, but she was interrupted by angry protests by Sasuke.

"Where have you been!" he demanded.

"Oh, here," Kakashi said uninterested. He took out Icha Icha Paradise and flipped to his page. Hmm, he should really get a bookmark.

"You've been here _the whole time_?!" Sasuke yelled again, clearly not satisfied with Kakashi's answer. Kakashi glanced up from his book to glance at Sasuke. His face was bright red, and one of his eyes seemed to have a tick to it.

"Well, I got back yesterday morning," Kakashi answered nonchalantly. "I've been meaning to get you guys, but I…" he glanced around him rather hopelessly. "I just haven't gotten around to it yet."

Sasuke looked like he was about to blow up. Sakura, too, looked annoyed. Naruto, however, looked like his birthday had come early.

"You wanted us to have more fun!" he exclaimed happily. "You knew that we still had more stuff to do, and you wanted us to get everything done. You really are the best sensei ever!"

"Um, yeah," Kakashi said. In all honesty, he'd kind of forgotten he'd assigned his team anything to do while he was gone. It had been a busy few days.

"But, can you leave for a few minutes?" Naruto asked hopefully.

"Why would I—oh," he said understanding. "No, I'm not going to leave so you can set up your pranks."

Naruto's face fell. "Can I at least put the fish in your sink?"

"I don't have a sink."

"You _don't_?"

"Yes. I don't," Kakashi said. As far as Naruto knew, he didn't have a sink, and it was going to stay that way.

Naruto turned to Sakura. "How can he have a sink?" he muttered to her. She just waved him off, clearly not falling for Kakashi's lie.

Kakashi looked back at Sasuke's face and decided it was probably a good idea to hide his face in his book again. Sasuke certainly had the "angry face" down.

"Hey, it wasn't that bad, was it?" Kakashi tried to ask him.

"Yes, it was!" Sasuke said. "Naruto turned into a girl and announced his undying love for me. And that was just the first night!"

Kakashi raised an eyebrow at Naruto. Of course, no one could see it because of his mask, but that wasn't the point.

"You're taking it completely out of context!" Naruto protested. "Besides, you left. Like, twice!"

"That wasn't fun," Sakura put it.

"It was better than when I lost my headband," Sasuke said. "At least I was happy when I left. No one had fun with the headband. Besides, at least _I_ don't brush my teeth twice at night."

"What's wrong with being cleanly?" Sakura huffed.

Kakashi had completely lost the thread of the conversation, but he deduced that no one was really mad anymore, which was good. He didn't want to have to deal with Sakura's angry parents, or Iruka since he seemed to be Naruto's unofficial guardian, or… who ever looked after Sasuke.

"…And that time we watched Icha Icha Paradise. Naruto's reaction was funny though."

Kakshi's eyes bugged out a little. "You did what?" he asked.

"We watched your stupid movie," Naruto answered. "And we decide that you need an interveter."

"He needs a space heater?" Sasuke asked innocently.

"Intervention," Sakura corrected.

"Ok," Kakashi silenced her quickly. "Don't you want to go home now?" He didn't really like the idea of twelve year olds staging any sort of intervention for him. Knowing Naruto, he'd get really in character and make it into a big deal or something.

Naruto shrugged. Sauke also seemed indifferent, but Sakura nodded.

"I guess so. They think I've been at Ino's this whole time."

"We're way cooler than Ino, Naruto scoffed.

Sakura laughed. "Don't tell her that."

Naruto just winked.

Sakura sighed. She seemed notably upset, Kakashi was going to point it out, but Naruto beat him to the punch.

"I'll walk you home, Sakura-chan. I bet we can find some ice cream on the way there," he said dumping all of his stuff on Kakashi's floor and grabbing her hand. Kakashi started to protest.

"Oh, it's ok," Naruto said. "You can keep it. I was planning on it staying anyway. Make sure to feed your new fish."

"But I don't want a fish," Kakashi said. "I'm not going to keep it."

Naruto scrunched up his nose in confusion as if he expected everyone to want a random fish from the lake. "You want it, Sasuke?" he asked.

"Don't try to pawn your fish off on me," Sasuke answered.

"Fine, I'll just keep it then," Naruto said picking up his bucket with his free hand. "Bye, Kakashi-sensei!"

"Training starts tomorrow morning," Kakshi said. "You still have a lot more to learn."

"Ok," Naruto said. He turned to Sasuke who still hadn't moved. "Sasuke, come on. Do you wanna get ice cream or not?" he asked in an exasperated tone.

Kakashi saw the boy's widen in surprise. Maybe he thought than, now that they didn't have to, the other two wouldn't want to hang out with him anymore. He nodded wordlessly and followed Naruto and Sakura out of Kakashi's house.

Kakashi surveyed the huge mess that had been left in his house. It was great that they all got along so well now, but why did they have to gang up on him now?

" _Maybe my plan worked a little too well_ ," Kakashi thought as he watched the three young ninjas set off down the Konoha streets, no doubt off in search of their next adventure.

-The End-

 **AN: It's over. D:**

 **Big thanks to:** **Mononoke-hime x sukai kurora** **,** **Hanmac** **,** **divergentlover523** **,** **to-anyone316** **,** **That Golden Girl** **,** **Suzululu4moe** **,** **BloodyORing** **,** **4Eva Dreaming** **,** **Gremlin Jack** **,** **RandomPudding** **,** **Dentro del Infinito** **,** **AUselessMicrofluff** **,** **Angel Hatake** **,** **sparrowhawk13** **,** **Cathy8taffy** **,** **Lonely Athena** **,** **SilverSapphire34523** **,** **KK,** **Narulover44** **,** **yara9292** **,** **ThePlotBunnies** **,** **LadyMartel4000** **,** **dayfox96** **,** **nightbeforedawn** **, and all of the guests for all of your reviews. Seriously, thank you, guys. I thought than no one would like, or even read my story, so it make me so happy that you took the time to write me at least one review.**

 **Another big thank you to everyone who's favorited or followed my story. There are too many of you for me to write down, but thank you. The amount of support I got for this fic overwhelmed me. Also, thanks to anyone who's read my fic. You're all awesome.**

 **Goodbye, guys. I hope I see you all in another fic someday. Happy reading!**


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